In a joint operation, representatives of Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), an NGO, and the Crime Investigation Department (CID) police busted a child trafficking racket and rescued six children.
Twenty more youth being accompanied by the same gang were also rescued. The police arrested two traffickers — Mitilesh of Chhattisgarh and Kiran of Nagari in Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh.
Acting on the information given by BBA Chhattisgarh coordinator Sandeep that children were being trafficked from Jagdalpur to Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, the CID police along with BBA AP State coordinator G. Tirupati Rao, intercepted a bus at Ibrahimpatnam in the early hours on Tuesday, and took the children into their custody.
Ibrahimpatnam Circle Inspector K. Sreedhar Kumar claimed the accused during questioning confessed that they were taking children to Salem in Tamil Nadu and Nagiri in Andhra Pradesh.
Cases have been registered against the accused under Human Trafficking Prevention Act, Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2016 and Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 2015, said District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) Ch. Vijay Kumar.
“The children include five boys and a girl, all aged between 10 and 15 years and were being trafficked in a private bus,” Mr. Tirupati Rao told The Hindu.
The DCPO said the rescued children were produced before the Krishna district Child Welfare Committee (CWC), which provided them rehabilitation in different homes.
