Ukhrul, November 7: A case of child trafficking was exposed in Duarmara Singpo village, Assam Tinsukia district on Wednesday (November 5) followed by the arrest of six persons allegedly involved in trafficking children from tea garden areas.
The case unfolded when villagers of Duarmara Singpo nabbed Deepak Pukan on Wednesday during his attempt to take away two minor children from the village.
Deepal Pukan was handed over to Pengeri Police Station. During his interrogation five more people linked to the case were arrested. The accused have been identified as- Umakanta Chetri, Boby Deori Sona, Rohit khadal, Peter Sabashi and Ajit Munda.
A case ( no 28/2025) has been registered under sections U/S 143(5)/3 (5) of the BNS.
“We have arrested six persons associated with human-trafficking network. The main accused Peter Sona has been on run. We have launched a man-hunt to nab him. They took away children from the tea garden areas and sold them to Arunachal Pradesh in household works,” said Sanjib Das investigation officer of Pengeri police station.
Sources in the police department revealed that most trafficking cases have been reported from Doomdooma area Tinsukia.
Recently four children were rescued from a human trafficking network in Makum Tinsukia from a night bus bearing registration number (AR 11B4458) going towards Itanagar.
In another case, railway authorities on August 1 also foiled an operation at Tinsukia railyway station, rescuing 26 minor girls and young women who were reportedly being trafficked to Tamil Nadu using forged documents.
Human trafficking remains a persistent concern in Upper Assam, especially in the tea garden areas where vulnerable families stricken by poverty are targeted with false promises of employment and financial aid.
Children and young women are then exploited and trafficked to other states.
The Assam government recognizing the crises launched a policy in the month of May, “Assam State Policy to Combat Human Trafficking and End Witch-Hunting.”
The policy stated, “There is an urgent need to develop a well-designed comprehensive policy to cover all areas of intervention, ensuring prevention, protection and rehabilitation of survivors of trafficking and witch-hunting. Apart from ensuring the rights of the survivors, the area of preventing such crime and prosecuting culprits is also an area of urgent intervention.”