This story is from April 22, 2017

29 trafficked minors brought back to Jharkhand

At least 29 boys and girls, trafficked to New Delhi earlier, were brought back to the state by police on Friday. The minors were rescued from different places in the national capital by Delhi Police and were kept in shelter homes there.
29 trafficked minors brought back to Jharkhand
Representative image
RANCHI: At least 29 boys and girls, trafficked to New Delhi earlier, were brought back to the state by police on Friday. The minors were rescued from different places in the national capital by Delhi Police and were kept in shelter homes there.
While the girls were sent to Premshray, a shelter home for girls near Ranchi Railway station, the boys were kept at Balashray on the ITI campus near Hehal.
All the rescued minors were later produced before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Ranchi, for necessary formalities.
The state team comprising officials from the state social welfare department, district child protection officer (DCPO) and anti-human trafficking unit (ATHU), visited the national capital after getting information about the rescued minors from CWC, Delhi.
CWC member Meera Mishra said, “All the rescued girls and boys were employed either for two or five years. Many of them had left their employer’s house and were spotted and rescued by Delhi Police in phases. Since all the 29 minors belonged to Jharkhand, CWC in Delhi contacted the state social welfare department officials.”
A 15-year-old girl told a CWC member that her parents, who are daily wage labourers, were unable to feed a family of seven. “I was in class VII when my neighbour took me to Delhi after paying Rs 5,000 to my mother,” she said.
“There are several others who are often taken to Delhi by their neighbours, who act as middlemen, on the pretext of giving them a job. These middlemen are also related or known to the family. Villagers, who are unemployed, are forced to send their children to these big cities,” Mishra said.

According to officials at Shakti Vahini, an NGO working for trafficked victims, only 300 out of 3,000 placement agencies are registered ones. Last year, the state government had cleared the placement agency bill, thereby making it compulsory to keep record of both employers and employees.
Those rescued belong to districts like Khunti, Chaisaba, Sahebganj, Godda, Simdega, Latehar and West Singhbhum. “I have asked the DCPO of these districts to verify the victims’ villagers before sending them home,” Mishra said.
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