Nine minors being taken to Punjab, Bihar for child labour rescued in Lucknow

The rescued children are currently at the Government Bal Griha on Mohan Road

June 16, 2023

Child labour: Just a week back, 11 minors were rescued from the same railway station by Childline team

In a rescue operation, carried out by a joint team of rescue workers from Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), the anti-human trafficking unit, and the Railway Protection Force, nine boys — all aged between 12 and 17 years were rescued at Lucknow’s Aishbagh railway station.

The rescued children are currently at the Government Bal Griha on Mohan Road, and are currently awaiting a CWC (Child Welfare Commission) order to return home.

Some of these rescued children were being taken to Ludhiana (Punjab) and the remaining to Chhapra (Bihar) in search of work.

The team intercepted the group of children, who were being accompanied by four adults. This comes just a week after 11 minors were rescued from the same railway station.

Interestingly, in both the rescue operations, the minors were found to be on-board the Amrapali Express (15707), which runs between Katihar and Amritsar.

Sharing further details on the latest rescue, Krishna Pratap Sharma, assistant project manager with BBA Lucknow, said, “We got a tip-off from Bihar itself that these children were being transported. Acting on the input, we carried out the rescue operation. A few small groups active in all districts inform the main BBA office in Delhi as soon as they get to know about children being moved somewhere.”

During the interrogation, the four men, who were transporting the children, confessed that they were taking the children to Jalandhar, Ambala and Govind Nagar, to make them work at chicken farms, a maize factory and an iron factory.

They revealed that they would pay the boys Rs.9-10,000 monthly, for 14-16 hours of work daily.

Further probe is underway.

[With Inputs from IANS]

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