Siliguri: The Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) jointly foiled a major human trafficking attempt at New Jalpaiguri (NJP) Station on Monday night. Acting on a tip-off, authorities rescued 56 young women who were being trafficked under the guise of employment opportunities.
The women, hailing from the districts of Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar, were allegedly lured with promises of jobs in Bangalore.
According to police sources, they were told they would be employed in private companies. They had been given month-long training in a building on rent located at Bhabesh More under Dabgram-Fulbari block near Siliguri under the banner of the West Bengal Society for Skill Development and Din Dayal Upadhyay Gramin Koushalya Yojna of the Central government. The training was given in hotel management. However, no official documents were found from the building for providing the training and using government banners.
After interrogation, police found out that the accused had planned to force the women into prostitution in Hussul in Tamil Nadu.
The group had boarded the Capital Express train from NJP Station on Monday night. Just before departure, Sub-Inspectors Atreyi Gangopadhyay and Barsha Pradhan, along with 27 personnel of GRP and RPF raided the train. They found none of the women had valid train tickets—only seat numbers written on their hands—and were unable to provide legitimate travel documents.
Two people escorting the women were arrested on the spot: Jitendra Kumar Paswan of Bhatpara, South Bengal and Chandrima Kar of Porajhar, Siliguri. They were reportedly posing as job coordinators. Upon interrogation, they failed to produce valid documentation.
Parijat Sarkar, the Deputy Superintendent of Railway Police said: “We have begun a thorough investigation. The accused have been sent to the Jalpaiguri court and further questioning will be done in custody.”
Both the accused have been booked under Sections 143(3)/3(5) of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to human trafficking and were produced at Jalpaiguri Court on Tuesday.
The women were safely rescued and arrangements were made to contact their families and facilitate their return home.