21 youths rescued at Kokrajhar railway station

From our Correspondent

KOKRAJHAR, May 29: At least 21 persons, including four boys, were rescued from down Guwahati to Thiruvanthapuram Express train No 12508 on Friday at Kokrajhar railway station. They were headed to Kerala in search of jobs.

The All Adivasi Students Association of Assam (AASAA), police and Nedan Foundation, a Kokrajhar based NGO, rescued the people from Thiruvanthapuram train.  Most of the rescued youths were under 21 years of age, of which four were boys and remaining are girls from Patgaon, Jharbari, yekgaon, Dholmmara of the Kokrajhar district.

Subash Mardi, organizing secretary of Kokrajhar district committee of AASAA, said that the persons were rescued from the train going to Kerala. They were victims of human trafficking and they had been lured by the promise of jobs.

Diganbor rzary, chairman of the Nedan Foundation, said that out of 21, five were minor girls. He also alleged that the pan card issue authority issued them pan cards without proper verification of their age. The rescued people were kept in police custody till their family members came to receive them. rzary said that 17 girls belonging to the Adivasi community hailing from the various corners of the Kokrajhar district were rescued from Kokrajhar Railway Station while heading towards Tamil du. They had been given false promise of jobs in Tamil du by an agent med Bablu who hailed from West Bengal. Nedan Foundation, as part of its anti-trafficking drive, rescued the girls with the help of Kokrajhar Railway Police and Kokrajhar Police.