200 madarasa boys detained at Railway Station

Bengaluru: As many as 200 madarasa boys between the age of eight and 13, along with 16 teachers accompanying them, were detained for eight hours at Cantonment railway station here on Tuesday.

The police had received a complaint from a citizen that they were victims of child trafficking, post which the police got suspicious of the whole incident.

On questioning, the Madarasa instructors informed the police that they are coming from different parts of the country and were returning to their madrasas in Tumakuru, Shivamogga, Madikeri and Bengaluru after a month-long Ramzan vacation.

They group were travelling from Guwahati to Bengaluru, and were detained at around 11 a.m. after a fellow passenger, Shivananda Naik, accused the instructors of trafficking children.

The Cantonment railway police, city police and members of the Child Welfare Committee visited the children, whose documents were being processed well into Tuesday night. Local religious leaders also arrived at the scene. “The children were kept in the waiting room at the station while we questioned the adults. The children were served in the afternoon for lunch,” an officer with the railway police said.

Only by 7 p.m. After checking their documents, including Aadhaar cards and IDs issued by the madrasas, the children and their instructors were allowed to leave,” an officer said.

Most of the children hail from West Bengal, Bihar and Assam, but study in madrasas in the State. They had gone to their home towns for Ramzan.