16 kids rescued at Malda station

TIMES NEWS NETWORK



Malda: Sixteen children — aged between eight and 12 — were rescued at Malda station on Friday night while they were on their way to Uttar Pradesh to work as child labourers. One person was arrested in this connection.
The children are residents of villages like Rajaramchak under Gajole PS and Chator under Ratua PS. They said a resident of Chator, Samaul Ali, was taking them to Jainpur in UP to work as labourers. Samaul took them to Malda Town station on Friday and they were to board the Delhibound Farakka Express.
The train, however, was much behind schedule. Naturally, the children were waiting on the platform. Other passengers smelt a rat on seeing so many children together. The passengers informed English Bazaar police, who rushed to the spot and caught Samaul. The children were also rescued. On being interrogated, Samaul conceded that he was taking the kids to Jainpur for railway construction work.
One of the children, Morsalim, said he had been to other states earlier, too, to work as a labourer. “I have no option as I have lost my parents early. This time, I was told that I would be paid Rs 2,200 per month,” he said. Police suspect the contractor might have had other intentions as well.
They are now trying to contact the children’s families. However, not surprisingly, most of the children said they have no one to go home to or
that they are extremely poor.
Samaul was produced in court on Saturday and remanded in seven days’ police custody. “It is a shame for us that we have not been able to reach the basic facilities to all families so that children are not robbed of their childhood. I’ll certainly look into the mater and provide these kids all possible help to continue with their studies,” said SDO Prakash Pal......published in TOI on 21.02.10