12 children rescued from Okha Express at Calicut railway station

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], July 28 (ANI): A group of 12 children was rescued by Child Welfare Committee (CWC) from Okha Express at Calicut railway station on Tuesday and in this connection, a pastor and three people from Rajasthan were arrested by Kozhikode railway police.
Twelve girls from Rajasthan were brought to Kerala accompanied by 6 Rajasthan natives and according to the statement of the accused, all the girls were taken to Karunalaya Charitable Trust at Perumbavoor, Ernakulam District without any authorization.
The Director of Karunalaya Charitable Trust, pastor Jacob Varghese has been arrested in the case of smuggling of children. After the investigation, Railway Protection Force found that the charitable trust was functioning without sufficient documents and the licence of the company mentioned by them had been cancelled three years ago.
Later, the girls were handed over to the Railway Police Child Welfare Committee and further investigations are going on.
According to a report by the National Human Rights Commission of India, 40,000 children are abducted each year, leaving 11,000 untraced in which 90% of the human trafficking in India is inter-state, while 10% is international.
According to the latest study by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the highest incidence of children and women being trafficked was observed in the cities of Mumbai and Kolkata. (ANI)