Assam Police rescue 42 trafficked children from Sikkim ; kingpin held

Guwahati, July 23: In a major breakthrough, a team from Assam Police carried out a successful search operation in Sikkim and rescued as many as 42 children belonging to Chirang district in Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) in the state.

The kingpin of the child trafficking racket, Krishna Jogi and his accomplice, have been arrested and are in custody of Chirang police for interrogation.

A police team led by Assam Police Special DGP, L.R Bishnoi and assisted by Chirang SP, Gaurav Upadhyay had conducted the operation in Sikkim and rescued the children on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters after interacting with the rescued children here on Friday, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that this was a significant achievement of Assam Police as the state police force, along with the drive against illicit drugs and cattle smuggling, had also intensified operations against human/child traffickers in the past two months.

“The children, aged between nine and 18 years, were taken to Sikkim on the pretext of providing education there but instead engaged in domestic work in various parts of the state. The children primarily belong to the Adivasi, Bengali, Koch-Rajbongshi and Boro communities and hail from four villages near the India-Bhutan border in Chirang district,” Sarma said.

He revealed that over the past two months, as many as 107 women and children, including nine girls (hailing from five districts of Assam) in Kerala, have been rescued in the past two months.

 “The children will be kept in two guest houses in Kokrajhar for a few days. The child welfare committee, Chirang, will take a decision in regard to their lodging in residential schools. I will be meeting their parents after some days and also meet Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) chief Pramod Boro, before taking a call in regard to their rehabilitation,” the chief minister said.