As many as six people including a young woman were arrested by the police from Morajhar in Assam’s Hojai on charges of child trafficking on Wednesday.
Those arrested were identified by officials as Bilal Uddin, Afzal Uddin, Nasir Hussain, Abdul Karim, Ajmal Hussain, and prime suspect Parbina Begum. Of them, Abdul Karim is a regional Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader.
All of them were produced before the district court at Sankardev Nagar in Hojai after which they were taken to jail. Meanwhile, the prime accused Parbina Begum and her brother Ajmal Hussain were sent to two days of police custody for further questioning, and the remaining four were sent to judicial custody.
It may be mentioned that the notorious gang trapped a minor girl child under the Debasthan Police Station in Morajhar with the promise of a job and later sold her to a prostitution racket in Delhi.
However, the victim managed to get out from there and reach Dehradun. There the police handed her over to the One Step Centre with the help of child helpline number.
From there, the family of the victim was able to bring her back to Hojai with the help of district All Assam Minority Students' Union (AAMSU) unit on July 4.
She was produced in the Debasthan Police Station where the police recorded her statement and also took the statements of the family members and registered a case under several sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act numbered 162/23 and initiated an investigation.
Moreover, the Hojai district AAMSU alleged that several children are still trapped by the gang and are questioning them to find their whereabouts. The family of the rescued girl also alleged that they received threats from the gang for complaining to the police about them.
Speaking about the matter, the government advocate said, “Based on the complaint of a person that her minor child had been trafficked to Delhi, under the supervision of the superintendent of police (SP) Hojai, a case was registered under sections 120 (B), 342, 370 sub-section 4 and 372 of the Indian Penal Code read with section 6 of the POCSO Act, at the Morajhar Police Station numbered 162/23.”
“In the ensuing police operation, six accused were arrested and the police were able to bust a major child trafficking gang,” he added.
