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GRP busts child-lifter gang in Chandauli; rescue two-year-old boy
Government Railway Police (GRP) arrested four child lifters from Pt Deendayal Upadhyay Nagar Junction in Chandauli on Wednesday and rescued a two-year-old child which they stole, said GRP
Government Railway Police (GRP) arrested four child lifters from Pt Deendayal Upadhyay Nagar Junction in Chandauli on Wednesday and rescued a two-year-old child which they stole, said GRP. The child was later handed over to his parents.
A GRP officer said that information was received that a two-year-old child was stolen from Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction premises on Tuesday night.
His parents, who sell balloons at the junction, lodged the missing complaint, and stated that on Tuesday night, both of them were sleeping with their two-year-old son at the eastern end. They woke up and found that the child was missing and then they reached the RPF station and informed officials that their child was stolen.
GRP PDDU Junction station house officer inspector Sunil Kumar Singh said that a team comprising GRP, RPF, and Crime Branch personnel was constituted immediately. The team launched a search and apprehended four members of a child-lifters gang at the second entry gate of PDDU Nagar during wee hours on Wednesday. The stolen child was recovered from their possession.
Arrested accused were identified as Jitendra Kumar, resident of Goh, Aurangabad; Pawan Prasad from Rohtas; Manish Kumar Sharma from Buxar; and Madhu Kumari, a resident of Charpokhari, Ara, Bihar.
During interrogation, the accused revealed that they had been stealing children for a long time. They used to sell the stolen children to nursing homes in Muzaffarpur and received ₹one lakh per child.
The officer said that they also revealed that they made elaborate preparations for child theft, with a woman always accompanying them. They kept diapers, new clothes, caps, milk bottles, and saffron milk, along with intoxicating powder. They stole children sleeping at night in crowded areas. Immediately after the theft, they would feed the children milk laced with some sedative and change their clothes to avoid suspicion.
GRP station house officer stated that this was an organised gang of child lifters. The gang members used to sell stolen children for ₹1 lakh at a nursing home in Muzaffarpur.
The accused were sent to jail and the recovered child was handed over to his parents.
Thanking the cops for their relentless and swift action in busting these trafficking rackets, Manish Sharma, senior director, Association for Voluntary Action, said, “Trafficking of children is an extremely nuanced and organised crime where interstate gangs collude to kidnap and traffic children. These children are then sold to brothels, forced into marriage, pushed into hazardous labour, used for illegal adoption, organ trade and subjected to unimaginable extent of abuse. We need to investigate and determine the intended purpose of this trafficking.
An FIR has been registered at GRP DDU under Sections 143(5) and 137 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, and Sections 21 and 22 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.
