New Delhi: As many as 25 persons, including children and two infants, were rescued late Tuesday night from a building where a suspected fake placement agency was running in Shakurpur, with police arresting four persons in this regard.
Following the development, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) will seek information from authorities in the Capital regarding placement agencies to examine if these are running legally.
"We will seek details of 51 placement agencies from the area so we could check their role," said NCPCR office bearer Priyank Kanoongo.
The official told Millennium Post that NCPCR found several registers, containing over 100 pages, at the agency containing details of other children were mentioned.
"Delhi is becoming the destination for traffickers. We have found names of areas like Chandigarh, Pune and Delhi in the registers where children who were brought earlier were sent to. It is under investigation," said the official, adding that copies of Aadhaar cards were also recovered.
The Commission, in a press statement on Wednesday, said that it received a complaint on Tuesday from an NGO regarding confinement of girls and infants in north west Delhi for trafficking. The infants were to be sold off while the girls were to be pushed into flesh trade.
The complaint also stated that the racket involves lures girls and children from other states and bringing them to Delhi.
It added there was an urgent need to carry a rescue operation on Tuesday itself, as there was a high chance of two girls being sold off.
Subsequently, the operation was undertaken and the building in Shakurpur was found locked.
Police broke open the door and found 25 persons and two infants belonging Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha.
Police said that four co-accused have been arrested, namely Murari, Sarfaran Qutubuddin and Ibrahim. These men belong to Jharkhand and Bihar, and brought children on demand from remote areas.
"They have claimed that the children were brought on the pretext of domestic jobs. One of them is connected with the placement agency," said a police officer.
The prime accused Ajay Kumar, his wife Soni Devi and Rita Kumari, who resided in the premises, are absconding.
Medical examination of the victims revealed that are 15 persons are below 18 years of age.
The child rights body also called for a DNA profiling of the two infants to identify their parents.
"The condition of the room where these people were kept was without proper ventilation and improper lighting. It was a four-storey building and the room was very small," said an NCPCR officer.
Kanoongo said, "These victims are from remote areas of five different states there were brought here on the pretext of domestic labour to the placement agency. Some children speak in regional dialects. We are investigating where they belong."