Nine minor girls rescued from railway station in Odisha

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Khurda, Jan 9:

As many as nine minor girls were rescued from the clutches of a woman from Nirakarpur Railway station in Odisha’s Khurda district by the railway police yesterday.

According to reports, the girls were being trafficked to Nellore in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

Yesterday, at around 2 pm in the afternoon on platform number two of the Nirakarpur Railway station, around 14 girls with luggage were seen with a woman. Some local youths alerted the Railway police about suspicious behaviour of the minors. When the police questioned them, four of the girls managed to give a slip to the police. On suspicion, the police detained them for further questioning. Besides, 14 tickets to Nellore were recovered from the girls and a labour license of Andhra Pradesh was found in possession of the woman.

After receiving the news, Khurda district labour department official Dilip Pani, rural labour inspector Monalisa Jena and rural labour officer Pritibandhan Ghadai rushed to the spot.

Preliminary investigation has revealed that Simta Rani Patra (34), wife of Sujit Patra, a native of Kanpur village in Kendrapada district was taking the 14 minor girls from Puri and Kendrapada districts to work in a shrimp farm in Nellore in Andhra Pradesh.

“The detained girls will be handed over to Childline. Their actual age will be investigated, after which action will be taken,” said Pani.

The girls said that they had come willingly with Patra as the financial conditions in their homes were not good.