56 women rescued from trafficking bid at NJP station
Railway Protection Force
(RPF) officers on Monday rescued 56 women from the Patna-bound Capital Express at New Jalpaiguri (NJP) station and arrested two persons on suspicion of trafficking.
The accused, identified as Jitendra Kumar Paswan and Chandrima Kaur, were produced in court on Tuesday and remanded in police custody for seven days.
Around 9pm on Monday, GRP and RPF personnel noticed a large group of women boarding the train. None of the women had valid train tickets, but all had their coach and berth numbers written on their hands.
According to a GRP officer, the women — hailing from Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and Dooars region of north Bengal — were told they were going to Bengaluru to get employment at a phone manufacturing company.
However, the train they had been put on was headed to Patna.
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The officers then questioned Paswan and Kaur, who were accompanying the women. The duo's statements were inconsistent and they failed to provide any documents verifying the existence of the company, following which they were arrested.
"The women, aged between 18 and 21, were given hotel management training for three months and were told they would get a job at a mobile phone company.
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All 56 are students," said GRP deputy SP Parijat Sarkar. "Only after a thorough investigation will we be able to comment on what appears to be a major case of attempted trafficking," he added.
All 56 women were taken to NJP GRP police station, where their families arrived to take them home.
The father of one them said: "She got a call claiming there would be a three-month training programme in Siliguri, after which the girls would get jobs. We had no idea that it could be a trap. This has taught us a hard lesson."
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