Railway police drive: 43 missing children found in 11 days
According to officials, most of the children who have been rescued are from north Indian states, West Bengal, and from Maharashtra interiors.
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The railway police have designated officers who are constantly monitoring railway stations and trains to trace missing children.
As part of a special drive to locate missing children and rescue those involved in child labour, the Government Railway Police, Pune, have found 43 missing children in a span of 11 days. Of these, 17 have been reunited with their families and the rest have been temporarily lodged in rescue homes. The search for their parents is on.
The month-long initiative ‘Operation Muskan’ was launched by the railway police on July 1. The state police department is also undertaking a similar drive.
The railway police have designated officers who are constantly monitoring railway stations and trains to trace missing children.
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“We have formed a special team for this purpose, headed by a police sub-inspector. Between July 1 and July 11, we found 43 children in the age group 5 to 15 years from various stations and trains. So far, we have traced families of 17 of them. We were able to contact them and reunite the children with their families,” said Abhay Parmar, police inspector (GRP).
According to officials, most of the children who have been rescued are from north Indian states, West Bengal, and from Maharashtra interiors. They added that after the children are rescued, it is a struggle to find information about their families due to langauge barriers.
“A few days ago, we managed to rescue a 10-year-old girl from a train. However, we could not obtain any information about her family or hometown. She is from Jharkhand and she spoke in a very thick Bhojpuri accent. We took help from a local who knows Bhojpuri and then learned about her parents and her story. She was brought from home some months ago to work as a maid for a family in the city. But the family members used to treat her badly and even beat her up. So she fled the house and started staying at a railway station. We have managed to contact her parents,” said Parmar.
GRP officials said that most of these children tell them that they lost contact with their parents during a train journey or they had left home in a fit of rage. Some of them claim that they were kidnapped, brought to Pune and made to beg.
Since trains and railway stations are alternate homes for the poor, the railway police often come across such children, said officials.
“We did not run a special drive last year, but we had managed to rescue nearly 200 kids,” said a GRP officer.
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