Assam Police has rescued a total of 42 children, who fell prey to human traffickers, from the Sikkim-West Bengal border.
The children were trafficked from three villages in Assam’s Chirang district.
They were rescued during an operation in the wee hours of Friday.
Chirang Police has arrested two human traffickers in connection with the case and one of the two has been identified as Krishna Yogi.
The arrested human traffickers are currently under the custody of Chirang Police.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma held a meeting with the rescued children at the Administrative Staff College, Khanapara.
The meeting was also attended by the state director general of police (DGP) Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, the IGP, CID, other top Assam Police officials and the Bodoland Territorial Region chief Pramod Boro.
During the operation, led by Special DGP LR Bishnoi and Chirang superintendent of police Gaurav Upadhyay, the Assam Police was able to rescue the children within 3 days.
All the children are of the age group of 8-18 years.
They belong to the Adivasi, Bengali and Bodo communities.
Chief minister Sarma informed that a total of 80 children were lured by the traffickers to provide them better education but were engaged as domestic help.
Sarma has congratulated the Assam Police.
Appreciation & congratulations to @assampolice led by Special DGP @lrbishnoiassam, Chirang SP Gaurav Upadhyay for having displayed exemplary professional skills in rescuing 40 children & 2 adults. Interacted with the innocent minds along with CEM, BTR, Sri @PramodBoroBTR. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/o8TJiQB2QH
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) July 23, 2021
“Appreciation & congratulations to@assampolice led by Special DGP@lrbishnoiassam, Chirang SP Gaurav Upadhyay for having displayed exemplary professional skills in rescuing 40 children & 2 adults. Interacted with the innocent minds along with CEM, BTR, Sri @PramodBoroBTR,” chief minister Sarma tweeted.
“We have decided to either hand over the children to their parents or send them to residential schools as per the recommendations of the Child Welfare Committee to ensure a better future for them. My office shall be closely monitoring this,” the chief minister said.
“Assam Govt is firm in its resolve to not allow the heinous act of trafficking of women & children. We shall come down heavily on perpetrators of such crimes & hunt them down from whichever part of the world they are in,” he added.
We have decided to either hand over the children to their parents or send them to residential schools as per the recommendations of the Child Welfare Committee to ensure a better future for them.
My office shall be closely monitoring this. 2/3@assampolice @DGPAssamPolice pic.twitter.com/47D5LxAp3l
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) July 23, 2021
Chief minister Sarma said he will meet the parents of the rescued children in their villages in 5-6 days.
The chief minister said many children, who were trafficked from the state, are still in places like Mumbai, Dubai and Bengaluru.