A total of 163 children being trafficked from Bihar to Maharashtra were rescued from a train in Madhya Pradesh's Katni district, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) reportedly said. All the rescued children were underaged boys, aged between six and 13.
All the rescued boys have started undergoing counselling. Efforts have begun to contact their parents while officials verify their age, identity, and purpose of travel. Currently, some children have been kept in Katni and others in Jabalpur under the care of child protection units.
The RPF and the Government Railway Police (GRP) intercepted the group on Saturday night based on a tip-off from the Child Welfare Committee. Security personnel waited for the Patna-Purna Express on platform number 5 and searched the coaches upon its arrival, taking the children into safe custody. The joint rescue operation was wrapped up at dawn on Sunday.
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Eight individuals were found travelling with the boys without proper tickets or documents. The force had received a tip-off about the trafficking of children and grew suspicious after finding no valid travel documents, prompting the intervention, the RPF said.
Trafficking route and legal action
According to preliminary information, the children were being transported from the Araria region in Bihar for labour work in Latur, Maharashtra, news agency PTI quoted RPF Katni inspector Virendra Singh as saying.
Singh stated that the GRP have registered a case under section 143(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS)—which pertains to the trafficking of a child below the age of eighteen years—against the eight accused, all of whom are from different districts of Bihar.