Railway Cops Rescue 32 Girls, Foil Suspected Human Trafficking Bid

On being quizzed by the Railway Police, the girls said they were headed to Ludhiana to work in mill.

Railway police guard rescued women at Tundla station on Thursday. (Photo: ANI Screengrab)

The Railway Police on Thursday rescued a group of 32 girls in Uttar Pradesh’s Tundla, after they were allegedly being trafficked to Ludhiana in Punjab.

Accompanied by three men who were not their guardians or family members, the girls-aged between 18 to 23-were travelling on the Muri Express, when they were asked to step out of the coach at Tundla Station.

The RPF acted after receiving a tip-off from a reliable source, who said that the girls were travelling in one compartment of the train that originates from Rourkela in Odisha, passes through states such as West Bengal and travels all the way up to Jammu in J&K.

India’s Dark ‘Human Trafficking’ record

South Asia, with India at its centre, is the fastest-growing and second-largest region for human trafficking in the world, after East Asia, says the U.N. Office for Drugs and Crime.

According to India’s National Crime Records Bureau, there were 5,466 human trafficking cases registered in 2014, an increase of 90 percent over the past five years, though activists say this is a gross underestimate.

India's minister for women and children has unveiled a draft of the country's first-ever comprehensive anti-human trafficking law, which would treat survivors as victims in need of assistance and protection rather than as criminals.

(With inputs from Reuters)

Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj