Anonymous phone call helps rescue 14 kids

An anonymous phone call has changed the lives of 14 minors on Tuesday night. They were rescued from an alleged trafficking bid at the Anand Vihar railway station. Neelam Pandey reports.

An anonymous phone call has changed the lives of 14 minors on Tuesday night. They were rescued from an alleged trafficking bid at the Anand Vihar railway station.

HT Image

The group had been brought to Delhi from Bihar’s Araria district to work as domestic helps.

The children, aged between 11 and 15, were produced before the child welfare committee (CWC), which sent them to a shelter home.

On Tuesday night, a call giving information about the children was made to DBS ChildLine, an NGO, which carried out the rescue operation with the help of the police.

“The children say that they had been promised of being sent to a madrasa. We have identified the madrasa owner and have sought an explanation from him. There could be a hidden motive behind the trafficking of these children and we need to investigate that,” Ajay Kumar Singh, chairperson of east CWC, said.

Sources said a computer operator employed with Makhtaba Jamia Ltd, who hailed from the same village as the children, had convinced their parents to send them to Delhi for further education.

The CWC has raised doubts over the computer operator’s claim that the children were brought only to be admitted to a madrasa. It has asked the police to find out whether the children were to be engaged in any activity other than education.

It has also directed the police to determine the legal status of the madrasa.