2 held for human trafficking, 7 labourers rescued

Police arrested two people for alleged human trafficking during a raid in Pakur district in Jharkhand on Monday and rescued 14 labourers belonging to the primitive Pahariya tribe, a senior official said.

The people arrested are residents of Kolkata and were arrested near Ambedkar Chowk in Pakur town, Superintendent of Police Shailendra Prasad Burnwal said.

Burnwal said the labourers are residents of Kumarbhaja village under Littipara police station of the district.

During interrogation, the people arrested confessed to police that they had trafficked labourers from Jharkhand to various others states, including Delhi and West Bengal promising them jobs, Burnwal said.

They use to to promise labourers that they would be paid Rs 10,000 monthly for their work in Delhi, he said adding that they had assured the victims to pay 50 per cent of the salary in Pakur after the labourers insisted for it.

A case has been registered under Section 370/34 of the IPC against the two on the basis of a joint complaint lodged by the labourers, Burnwal added.

In an unrelated incident, seven children, who were being taken to Delhi by suspected traffickers two days ago, were set free by railway police from Ghaziabad, said Pakur district coordinator of Childline centre, Kundan Kumar Goswami.

The children have been handed over to Child Welfare Committee, Pakur, on Monday, he said.

Of the seven children, five children hailed from Pakur district and one each from Godda and West Singhbhum district, Goswami said.

A child, who was a native of Aajna village under Pakur Sadar block, has been handed over to his parents and a process to hand over four others, who are residents of Amrapara police station of the district, to their relatives is on, he said.

Two other children were handed over to Childline Centre, Pakur and will be handed over to their parents on Tuesday.