Eighteen children of Nepali origin were rescued from traffickers at Indo-Nepal border area in Uttar Pradesh through Swaraksha program of Caritas India.

These children were intercepted at the border village of Rupaidiha in Behraich district of Uttar Pradesh by the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) when they were crossing the border with the trafficker.

Most of the children were from the Jajarkot District of Nepal and were lured to get well-paid jobs in India. After the interception, SSB contacted Caritas India partner DEHAT working in 15 villages of border area under the Swaraksha Programme to combat human trafficking.

While interrogating the trafficker, it was reported that the children were being taken to Himachal Pradesh and Mumbai for bonded labour.

The trafficker is primarily a resident of Jafarpurwa, Nepalgunj, Banke, Nepal and having dual citizenship of India and Nepal. The Police has arrested 4 perpetrators and registered 2 FIRs in this connection.

These traffickers entice rural Nepali people with attractive job offers and promise of better life. These victims end up either in circus, orchestras, restaurants, brothels or in domestic help.

Children were counseled by DEHAT team. After completing the legal procedures Deputy Commandant of SSB  handed over the children to Tiny Hands, Nepali NGO under the supervision of Sub Inspector Mr. Sudhir Khadka from Nepal Police. All the children were later restored back to their homes.

This operation got success through the combined efforts of Caritas India, DEHAT, SSB and other like-minded Organizations like Tiny Hands Nepal working on the issues of trafficking at the border areas of Nepal.

Since 2013, the cases of human trafficking on the Indo-Nepal border has increased to 500% according to SSB study. In 2013, 108 girls/children were rescued at the Indo-Nepal border, while 607 such victims were rescued in 2017.

One of the challenges faced by DEHAT team was to repatriate children in a short time as there was no shelter home nearby. Lack of shelter homes and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) are major issues in the border areas. One of the measures is to strengthen the vigilance at the borders and to develop SOPs for smooth repatriation with a tracking system to check re-trafficking.