On Friday (26th April 2024), the Uttar Pradesh Police searched a bus on suspicion of human trafficking while it was passing through Ayodhya. The police rescued around 93 minor children who were present on the bus whose ages varied between 6 to 14 years. The Police have arrested five Maulvis in this connection. As per reports, all the children are said to be residents of Bihar’s Araria district. The Maulvis were taking them to Madarsas in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur for enrollment. However, during their investigation, the police discovered that these Madarsas were unregistered.
The Maulvis are accused of raising funds from external sources by falsely claiming that the minor children were orphans. Upon gaining the children’s trust, the authorities learned that they were subjected to inhumane treatment. Currently, the administration is conducting further investigations into the case.
According to reports, on Friday (26th April), Police stopped a double-decker bus near Devkali, Ayodhya, on suspicion of Human trafficking. There were about 100 people onboard the bus, with 93 of them being minor children who appeared tired and distressed.
The bus had started its journey from Araria in Bihar. During the initial interrogation, the Maulvis told the police that they were traveling to Saharanpur. They mentioned two madarsas – Madarul Uloom Rafiqia and Daare Arqam, located in the Deoband area. According to the clerics, they were taking the minors to enroll them in these two madarsas.
When the police investigated these madarsas, it was revealed that neither of them was registered. Additionally, it was also discovered that the Maulvis were raising funds from the parents of these children. However, they presented these minors as orphans to solicit funding from external sources as well.
After apprehending the clerics, the police sent the children to the Government Children’s Home in Lucknow and also informed their parents. The team from the State Child Protection Commission arrived at the Children’s Home on Sunday (28th April 2024).
When they gained the children’s trust and inquired about their well-being, the minors opened up and narrated the ordeals they had suffered in the madarsas.
The minors said that they were brutally assaulted in the madarsa. They were made to clean toilets and were threatened with dire consequences if they told anyone about it. Even when children fell ill, they were given medicine only after receiving money from home. Many children rescued in the recent incident had previously stayed in these madarsas in Saharanpur. The gates of the madarsas were closed at night, and when the minors asked them to open the gate, they were assaulted by the guards. They named Master Shahzad and Jabar as the ones who tortured them the most.
The Police are interrogating the arrested Maulvis and other legal action is underway in this case. As per reports, the parents of these minors were made to give it in writing that the Maulvis would not be responsible if anything untoward happened to their children.
The administration called on their parents to Lucknow on Monday (29th April). According to Dr. Suchita Chaturvedi, a member of the State Child Rights Protection Commission, the children started crying while talking to her.
These minors said that their dream is to become doctors; however, they added that they can’t achieve this dream by studying in the madarsas. Dr. Suchita said that she would obtain written assurances from the visiting parents that these children would not be admitted to the madarsas again.
A similar incident was reported in May 2023. Back then, the Maharashtra Police had intercepted and seized a truck carrying 63 minor Muslim boys in the city of Kolhapur, Maharashtra. These Muslim boys, all aged between 7 to 13, belonged to Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal and were brought to the city via train from Bihar.
