13 tribal children being trafficked to Gujarat rescued in Udaipur

Udaipur: A 15-year-old girl was among 13 tribal children rescued from Rajasthan’s Udaipur while they were being allegedly trafficked to Gujarat on Friday in two buses to work as bonded labourers, officials said on Saturday.

“We have been getting information about children being trafficked to Gujarat from Gogunda and Saria blocks of Udaipur in private buses. On Friday night, we got a tip-off that 10 private buses were carrying 10 to 15 children. We immediately took action to rescue them,” said District Legal Services Authority secretary Ridhima Sharma.

She said check posts were set up at various points with the help of police to intercept a few buses. “A team was sent to Balicha circle of the city for checking. From there 10 boys and a girl were rescued from a private bus, and two more boys were found in another bus,” Sharma said.

Sharma said over 100 children have been rescued over the last year in Udaipur. “In some parts of Rajasthan, parents force their children to work as labourers mainly because of poverty and unemployment. The children are made to work in fields, especially those of BT cotton, in parts of Gujarat.”

The children have been handed over to the Child Welfare Committee.