A majority of the children begging on the City roads could be victims of human trafficking and forced displacement by an organised mafia, which thrives on the business of child beggary. In a first ever move to crack down on child traffickers, the Child Welfare Committee on Friday evening registered a First Information Report (FIR) against one Jayaram from Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh and his ‘mother’ Laxmi Devi under the Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection) Act, 2000 at the Yelahanka police station for allegedly trafficking nine children. These children from Pavagada in Tumkur district were among those who were rescued in two joint operations – ‘Operation Rakshana’ – by seven voluntary organizations, the Departments of Women and Child Development, Health and Labour, CWC, Child Helpline and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike with the support of the police in December last year and August this year.
Around 300 children, including 89 infants, were rescued in December and over 100 beggar children were rescued in August. Nine-year-old Prema (name changed), who was rescued in December while she was begging in Nagawara along with her ‘grandmother’ Laxmi Devi, had told the CWC that she was beaten up by her ‘grandmom’ if she brought ‘home’ less than Rs 200 every day.
Further investigation revealed that Prema was trafficked from Pavagada and brought to Bengaluru by Jayaram and Laxmi to beg. In the second sweep in August, the joint teams picked up another batch of nine children, including two infants, from among the 100-odd rescued, who were reportedly trafficked from Pavagada by the ‘mother–son’ duo. Laxmi, who was kept in the Beggars Home, has been arrested and a hunt is on for Jayaram. Police are now looking for Jayaram. “This could be a bigger malaise. Children are trafficked for various reasons. Unfortunately, we do not have an anti-human trafficking law in the country”, said an official source.