Irrefutable evidence of child trafficking emerges after rescue of children in Gorakhpur and Muzaffapur

There is now incontrovertible evidence that child trafficking is alive and kicking in the midst of the Covid-19 lockdown which has not proved to be a deterrent for child traffickers, especially those operating from Bihar and with close links with their ilk as well as employers based in Delhi.

The rescue of 28 children in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, in the wee hours of August 17 and of the same number of children at Muzaffarpur in Bihar late last week attests to the continuing menace of child trafficking — a point that Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) as well as the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation (KSCF) have been continually claiming since weeks and months after the lockdown was imposed on March 24.

Of the 28 children rescued at Gorakhpur, 19 were found to be in the 9-16 age group, while 11 of the those rescued at Muzaffarpur were between 11 and 14 years of age. In both instances, the children were found being trafficked in buses which originated in Araria and were bound for Delhi, one of the major ‘receiving’ cities and hubs for pushing children into hazardous and other forms of dangerous labour.

The other children rescued at Gorakhpur were allowed to go, following written undertakings that their parents would not hand them over to traffickers. The 17 other children rescued in Muzaffarpur were found to be between 15 and years of age. The two rescue operations also led to the arrest of 14 (three in Muzaffarpur and 11 in Gorakhpur) alleged traffickers.

An important feature of the rescues was that in both instances information/intelligence was supplied by a team of child labour ‘survivor leaders’ who have been leading a Mukti Caravan on bicycles across 10 districts of Bihar such as Katihar, Sitamarhi, Darbhanga, East Champaran, Purnea, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Samastipur and Gaya districts. These ‘survivor leaders’ have been touring different parts of these districts and spreading awareness on disseminating information on the scourge of child trafficking.

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