Kerala: Railway police lax in trafficking case

KOCHI: The railway police and other authorities have been  accused of  soft-pedalling  the suspected case of trafficking of girls, including minors, from Odisha to Kerala. The railway police in Palakkad had  taken into custody a group of six girls and a woman  on June 30 while on their way to Kochi on the Dhanbad-Alappuzha Express.

Although more than two weeks have elapsed since the incident,    the authorities concerned have not taken any measures to record the statement of the girls with the help of a person having knowledge of Odiya language to frame a solid case connected with trafficking, a source said. The medical examination of all six girls revealed that they had  been subjected to sexual intercourse. Out of the six girls,  three are minors aged between 14 and 16.

The girls were taken to the judicial first class magistrate court to record their statement under section 164 on Friday without a qualified interpreter of Odiya language, a source said. Although the Child Welfare Committee had  asked for arranging a person with the knowledge of the language,  the investigating authorities have not taken any measures in this direction.

“The investigating authorities  seem  to be in a hurry to close the case despite widespread suspicion about the possibility of the girls being brought to the state for  sex trade,”  the source added. The girls, accompanied by a 40-year old woman identified as Sujitha from Odisha, told the officials of Child Welfare Committee that they had come to Kerala to work in  Ponnu Enterprises, a fish processing unit in Kochi. A representative of the company  told the probing officials that he was not aware of the girls being brought to the state for working in his firm.