Jharkhand: Child traffic victim missing for 10 yrs rescued 

Ranchi, August 7: A  minor victim of human trafficking who was missing from home for 10 years was rescued with the active intervention of the Jharkhand government.

The boy a native of Barhait in Sahibganj the home constituency of chief minister Hemant Soren, was freed by the Integrated Rehabilitation cum Resource Center, New Delhi, run by the Department of Women and Child Development with support of local NGOs after operations in Haryana and Delhi.

According to a communique issued by state government the boy was brought to Delhi by human traffickers 10 years ago, while he was about 13 years old. The boy had no contact with the family for 10 years. Even after the father searched for the last several years, no information about the boy was found. In this regard, a complaint was lodged in Barhait police station of Sahibganj district of Jharkhand.

Jharkhand police also searched for the child for many years, but no clue was found. After this, Jharkhand Bhawan, New Delhi was informed about this five days back.

Nachiketa, nodal officer of integrated rehabilitation and resource centre, Jharkhand Bhawan, New Delhi, formed a team.

“The child’s father had given the mobile number of a placement agency. On extracting the information of that mobile, it was found that the number belonged to a travel agency. The team posing as passengers, contacted the said travel agency over the phone and went to his office and caught him,” the government statement said.

“The owner of the agency told that he had employed the child. When the rescue team went to the office of the owner of the house where the child was employed, tracking his mobile number, it was found that the owner had shifted his office to another place a few years back,” the statement said.

“The team raided the residences of the said owner in Panipat, Haryana and New Delhi with the help of local police and local NGO. The child was not found there, but another 17-year-old boy from Jharkhand was found at the Delhi residence, who was being made to do household and office work. The child was rescued and handed him over to the concerned local police for further action and the family was strictly instructed to hand over the child who had been missing for 10 years,” the statement added.

Thereafter under pressure the owner sent the boy who had been missing for 10 years back to his family in Jharkhand on Monday.

It is known that Integrated Rehabilitation cum Resource Center, New Delhi is an integral part of Jharkhand Bhawan, which is run by the Department of Women and Child Development. All this action was taken on the instructions of the Resident Commissioner of Jharkhand Bhawan.