GUWAHATI: The Assam government will adopt a State Policy for Rehabilitation of the children who are trafficked and rescued to secure their future, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said after interacting with 40 children and two adults who were rescued from Sikkim at a programme held at Assam Administrative Staff College at Khanapara here on Friday.
On receipt of information that 80 children from four villages from Bodoland Territorial region (BTR) along the Indo-Bhutan border were trafficked to other places, the state police using its intelligence traced out 42 victims in Sikkim.
They were rescued from Sikkim with the help of the Sikkim Police and brought back to Assam.
The government would hand over the children to their parents and upon taking their permission, the children would be sent to residential schools. The government would also seek the recommendations of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in this regard.
The chief minister said that the rehabilitation policy will essentially address emotional issues of the children to secure their childhood so that in the near future they can bloom into good and resourceful citizens after getting the right kind of education.
Human trafficking racket is possibly bigger than the drugs and cattle smuggling rackets in Assam, Sarma said.
“Since the time I took over charge, at least 107 persons including children and women were rescued by state police. It only means that thousands of our children and women are being trafficked annually. It’s bigger than cattle smuggling and the drug rackets,” Sarma said.
Sarma said, “We cannot tolerate childhood, the most promising period of one’s life, being snatched away. We cannot allow the exploitation of children. I hail the Assam Police led by special DGP LR Bishnoi and Chirang SP Gaurav Upadhaya and their team for rescuing 40 children and two adults from the clutches of child traffickers.
Sarma also said that continuing its operations against human trafficking, the state government in the last two months rescued 107 children and women from different parts of the nation. Sarma also said that he would visit the villages of the rescued children along the Indo-Bhutan border and talk to their parents in his bid to understand the malice to redress the problem permanently.
Sarma also made it clear that state government is committed to eliminate the ills of human trafficking from Assam, as more operations would be launched to bust the human trafficking network and deal with the persons involved in the crime very sternly.
It may be noted that when a 13-year-old child who was being trafficked to Sikkim from Shantipur area of Chirang district, intercepted by Kalimpong police, West Bengal, a team of Chirang Police under SI Pranab Deka went to West Bengal and caught hold of the accused namely Krishna Yogi and Tika Ram Ghimiray.
During interrogation, it was revealed that several children were trafficked from Runikhata area to Sikkim. A police team rushed to Sikkim on July 19 and 40 children and two adults were rescued with the help of Sikkim Police and CWC Sikkim.
All the rescued victims were produced before CWC Sikkim and CWC Chirang. Of the 40 children, 16 are female and 24 male and two female adults and the police recovered them all after receiving their consent. Efforts are also on to recover more trafficked children and apprehend all the culprits involved in this human trafficking racket.
Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) chief Pramod Boro, DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, special DGP LR Bishnoi, Chirang SP Gaurav Upadhaya were also present during the chief minister’s interaction with the children.
