Rescued at the railway station

They were being brought from West Bengal to work in a construction company at Rs 80 per day. Parents were given Rs 1,000 and the promise of a monthly income

Rescued at the railway station

They were being brought from West Bengal to work in a construction company at Rs 80 per day. Parents were given Rs 1,000 and the promise of a monthly income

A 25-year-old child trafficker has been caught bringing eight children from Kolkata to Bangalore where they were to work for a leading engineering and construction company.

Bosco, a city-based NGO working with street children which rescued the victims at Bangalore City Railway Station, said they were between 11 and 14 years and came from different villages in Malda, West Bengal.

However, many of them did not want to work and were forcibly brought to Bangalore.

Child trafficking in and around Majestic is not a new phenomenon. It may be recalled that MiD DAY busted a racket involving touts selling runaway children to hotels and other industries.

A fast one

Initially, Basheer tried to hoodwink the volunteers saying the children had come to visit their parents and that he would bring them to secure their release. When Bosco agreed, he changed his tactics and tried to bribe the volunteers to release him and the children.

When that didn't work, he confessed that that he was working for the company for three years and his job was to hire construction workers from his hometown.

His supervisor, Madhu, allegedly told him to get children because they are cheaper than adults at Rs 80 per day.
"They wanted me to get around 25 people, preferably children," Basheer said. He also had other adult workers along with the children.

Basheer also confessed that Madhu and Chittanum, a mason, had given him Rs 30,000 to get the children. "I gave Rs 1,000 to each of the children's families and promised to send money to them every month," Basheer told police.

Safe and sound: Rescued children play games at the Bosco centre

CWC alerted

Bosco also alerted the Child Welfare Committee, a quasi-judicial body set up by the state government.

"We will ask the CWC to order for a detailed probe to find out whether the company has employed more such child labourers," said Bosco executive director Fr Edward Thomas, who counselled the children.

"Though Basheer said this was the first time he was bringing the children to work, we suspect he's done this many times before," Fr Thomas said.

All the children are at Bosco and will be produced before the CWC tomorrow.

CWC member P N Basavraj, who was part of the rescue operations, said he would take up the matter seriously and demand a detailed probe.

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