The UP Child Commission informed that a total of 95 minors were rescued on Friday (April 26) while they were allegedly being transported from Bihar to Uttar Pradesh illegally. Speaking to the media, Ayodhya Child Welfare Committee Chairperson Sarvesh Awasthi elaborated on the details of the rescue operation. He said the children were rescued while they were en route to Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh.
He said, "At around 9 a.m., UP Child Commission member Suchitra Chaturvedi called and said that from Bihar, minor children are being transported to Saharanpur illegally and that they're in Gorakhpur and will go via Ayodhya. We rescued the children, and they were given food and medical assistance."
He added that the children who were rescued were between the ages of 4 and 12. "Those people who brought the children had no consent letters from parents. Children are between the ages of 4 and 12, and most of them said they didn't know where they were being taken. Parents are being contacted, and children will be handed over once they arrive. There were a total of 95 children," the Ayodhya CWC Chairperson said.
Meanwhile, the significant development follows an earlier incident, when a group of children from Bihar, reportedly being sent to madrasas across states, were rescued by the Uttar Pradesh State Child Commission in Gorakhpur. Following the incident, in a social media post, Chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Priyank Kanoongo, said, "Innocent children who were being sent to madrasas in other states from Bihar have been rescued in Gorakhpur with the help of the Uttar Pradesh State Child Commission on the instructions of @NCPCR."
"The Constitution of India has given the right to education to every child. It is mandatory for every child to go to school. In such a situation, taking poor children to other states and keeping them in madrasas to earn donations on the basis of religion is a violation of the Constitution," he added.
"To prevent such crimes, it is necessary to lodge an FIR in the incident, which the Gorakhpur Railway Police has not done yet," the chief of the national children's panel added.