CHENNAI: The Railways is the favoured mode of transport for trafficking children. However, railway officials at Chennai Central are astonished that at least two children are being rescued by child welfare officers at the station every day for the past three months when the service was initiated.
The Childline Foundation of India, which runs a 24-hour helpline to rescue trapped and trafficked children known as Childline, has set up a permanent booth at the Chennai Central station, which is administered by the Royapuram-based NGO Brother Siga social service guild from July. Since then, they’ve rescued around 200 children, which is more than double the number at Chennai Egmore station. Overall, 900 children have been rescued in the Chennai railway police district this year alone.
Though a detailed analysis of the cases by the Government Railway Police (GRP) is on the anvil, officials say that a majority of cases are those of children who run away from their homes because of a tiff with their family. “If the child is beaten up by parents, or fails an examination, they run away by taking a train and arrive at Central. We have informants on every shift to identify children who are roaming alone so that they don’t get into the hands of traffickers,” said a senior official of Government Railway Police (GRP) that has officers to track such cases.
Officials have also discovered children being trafficked from West Bengal and Odisha or from tribal areas of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, who are allegedly employed as cheap labour at construction sites in Chennai and surrounding urban areas. The NGO has also encountered cases of teenage girls who have been abandoned at stations by boyfriends who had promised to marry them, sources added. The GRP official also stated that major stations had a Child Protection Committee (CPC) of which the Station Manager was the officer-in-charge and members include porters, auto drivers and vendors.
A specific procedure is followed to handle rescued children. Since they are already alone and frightened, a special counsellor is appointed by the NGO to provide emotional support to the child. At least one woman staff is present in all three shifts to handle cases of girls.
Taking children to the railway police station is avoided as they would get even more frightened, the GRP official stated. “Officers-in-charge of tracking lost children roam the station in plainclothes,” he said. “Later, they hand over the children to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC). In case parents are not traced, they are sent to a government home.” If passengers or visitors at stations spot any child in distress, they can contact the Childline helpline number 1098 or the GRP helpline number 1512.