Church group helps free 15 minor girls

(February 11, 2010) A Salesian-managed child helpline and some railway officials in Bangalore Tuesday rescued 15 minor girls, who were brought to work in a garment factory. Railway authorities, who saw the group of anxious girls from Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh, alerted the police and the child helpline. Preliminary inquiry revealed they were bought and then brought for work, said a report in the Times of India. “Off the 15 girls, three are above 18 years and were working at a garment factory,” said BOSCO child helpline coordinator Gnana Prakash. The elder girls were paid by the employer to get more girls. “So they brought the minors from their hometown Srikakulam. Such incidents are regular in garment factories but are left unchecked by the authorities,” Prakash said. A person from the garment factory was waiting at the railway station with a vehicle to take these girls to the factory. However, the involvement of railway officials saved the children. The girls are at the government girls home now. The child helpline has registered a case of trafficking with the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights