The Railway Protection Force (RPF) Guwahati has rescued a minor girl and apprehended a person on charges of trafficking the girl.
The news has been shared by the chief public relations officer (CPRO) Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), Subhanan Chanda.
Chanda said, “At about 4 pm on Sunday, constable T.O. Singh of the RPF Post in Guwahati while performing duty at the CCTV Control Room of Guwahati railway station, noticed a man entering the station suspiciously with a minor girl.”
“He immediately informed the matter to the on-duty constable, L. Ramananda Singh, who was performing duty at the circulating area.”
Acting swiftly, constable L. Ramananda Singh along with the on-duty chief ticket inspector, Guwahati, detected them and found the minor girl with the person sitting in the concourse area of the station hiding their presence.
“During interrogation, their versions were found contradictory,” the railway official said in a statement.
“The minor girl stated that she had fled from her home to proceed to Chennai on being insisted by Sunil Thakur, who pretended to be Rajib Gogoi before her and she had never physically met him earlier,” Chanda said.
The inspector of RPF Guwahati informed the matter to the parents of the rescued girl over the phone and came to know that their daughter had been missing since September 26, 2020.
The minor girl hails from Athalpathar Gaon under Sapekhati police station in Charaideo district of upper Assam.
The trafficker, identified as Sunil Thakur (41), son of late Hira Thakur of Barhafjan under Makum police station in Tinsukia district of upper Assam, was apprehended.
Later, after medical examinations and other formalities, the rescued minor girl along with the apprehended person were handed over to the officer-in-charge of the Government Railway Police Station (GRPS) Guwahati.
A case (61/2020 dated 27.09.2020 u/s 370(A)/370(i) IPC) has been registered against the trafficker at the GPRS Guwahati.
The RPF has been successfully rescuing trafficked minors and children, who fled from their homes, from railway premises.
“In 2019, the RPF under NFR rescued 854 minors from railway premises,” the NFR CPRO informed.
This year, a total of 136 minors have been rescued by the RPF till last week, he added.
Last year, a total of 14 traffickers were apprehended and this year till date, 12 traffickers have been apprehended by the RPF under NFR Chanda further informed.