71 kids disembarked at Vizag Railway station

​Visakhapatnam: The Railway Protection Force, suspecting child trafficking, disembarked 71 children- all in the age group of 10 and 14 at Vizag Railway Station on Tuesday from the Vasco da Gama bound Amravati Express.

Improper documents and miscommunication led the RPF to detain the children and accompanying adults. The children were heading to a Madrasa in Hubli town of Karnataka from Howrah area in West Bengal, along with other five instructors, when they were disembarked by the Railway Protection Force (RPF), officials of District Child Protection Unit and Childline.

Talking to newsmen at the railway station, District Child Protection Officer AS Narayana said that a person from Vizianagaram made a call to toll the free number 1098 of Childline and informed that over 50 children (child labour) were being transported from Odisha and West Bengal. “Based on the call, we boarded into the train with the support of RPF personnel and GRP personnel and found that 71 children were being taken to Hubli,’’ he said.

The instructors, who accompanied the students, replied that the children were being taken to Madrasa following the end of summer vacation. However, they failed to produce any valid documents or identity proofs of the children that had raised the officials’ suspicion that the children were being trafficked, said RPF personnel.

Later, the officials have coordinated with their counterpart in Hubli and got a confirmation that the children belong to Madani Mia Arabic College, a Madrasa in Hubli. The children will proceed to Hubli, accompanied by a representative from Childline, the RPF personnel said.