BENGALURU: Indicating a surge in the number of children being brought to Bengaluru for labour, a total of 101 minors, including nine girls, have been rescued by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) at various stations across the Bengaluru Railway Division in just one month. More than half of those rescued are young boys from Bihar.
The data for the period from July 17 to August 18 takes into account children rescued by the ‘Nanhe Farishtey’ team, a special unit of the RPF, to counter child trafficking on railway premises, and the Shakti teams constituted for women’s safety.
A senior railway source said, “The maximum number of 56 children have been brought from Bihar, followed by 15 children from different parts of Karnataka and 12 from Uttar Pradesh. The kids from Bihar initially told us that they came to study at madrasas in the State, but when we cross-checked, we found out that these centres were closed due to the Covid pandemic.
After much convincing, the kids later revealed that they were promised good jobs in Bengaluru.” The children also hail from Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, but in fewer numbers.
Fake info on kids’ Aadhaar cards a concern
After counselling, the children have been sent to the Child Welfare Committee for safety. “Those who bring them often manage to escape when they spot the cops around,” the source added. The rescue efforts were made at Yeshwantpur, Cantonment and KSR (Bengaluru City) railway stations.
The source said that a worrying trend was the fake information provided on the Aadhaar cards carried by the children. “We have found five kids carrying Aadhaar cards which showed their age as above 18. But our interaction with them revealed they were much younger.”
On the reasons for such a trend, G Sumathi, state coordinator of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, which works across the country for children, said, “The pandemic-induced job losses suffered by the marginalised communities force them to send their children into labour. Bengaluru being a place where jobs are always available, children are being sourced from Bihar, Chhattisgarh.
Even a completely unskilled person gets absorbed here. Through contacts, they then travel across the State where labour is required.” There is no strict implementation of laws framed for migrants and this makes it easy for traffickers to source them from other states here, she pointed out. The recent augmentation of RPF staff has also helped in moni toring more trains and stations.
Total children rescued in one month 101
Native States of the children:
Bihar: 56
Karnataka: 15
Uttar Pradesh: 12
West Bengal: 7
MP, Assam, Odisha: 2 each
Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Punjab, Rajasthan &
Tamil Nadu: 1 each