The 26 girls rescued by the Government Railway Police and Berhampur Childline. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy

Berhampur, Aug. 23: The Government Railway Police (GRP) and Childline have rescued 26 girls, including eight minors, from the city railway station.

Police arrested two male traffickers in connection with the case yesterday.

Berhampur Childline director Sudhir Sabat said: “We swung into action after I received a phone call at 11.30pm that 26 girls were being sent by train from Berhampur Railway Station. I informed the GRP and sent four Childline volunteers to the station, along with Child Welfare Committee chairperson Subhash Chandra Das.”

Gopal Krushna Dalabehera of the Childline, Berhampur said the 26 girls were waiting for the Kharagpur-Bhelupuram Express. “Of 26 girls, eight are minors, and the other 18 are in the age group between 19 and 26 years. They had tickets for general compartments from Berhampur to Tripur in Tamil Nadu, and they intended to work in a garment factory called Poppys Network Private Limited with a promised salary of Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,500. The girls belong to four villages, Khambarigaon, Babanpur, Khandadeuli and Antarsing, in the Khambarigaon panchayat in Patrapur block of Ganjam district,” Dalabehera said.

During counselling, the girls said they intended to go to Tripur as they were working with the garment factory. They came to their native village to make their Adhar cards. Nobody motivated them to migrate from their village, sources said.

However, sources in the GRP said Bailadu Sethi and his cousin, Shyam Sundar Sethi, both working with the garment factory, were trafficking the girls to Tamil Nadu. They were in constant touch with the girls on the platform. The GRP arrested both of them moments before the arrival of the Kharagpur-Bhelupuram Express.

Bailadu is a native of Dabhara, in the K. Nuagaon police station limits at Chikiti block. He works as a supervisor in the garment factory. However, Bailadu said he was on leave and had come to the railway station to see off his cousin brother, Shyam Sundar, who works in the packing unit of the same factory.

“The GRP personnel beat both of us, snatched away the tickets, mobile phones and the keys of my motorbike. Most of the girls were working in our company, and we happen to be from adjoining villages. What is the wrong in talking them to the station,” asked Bailadu.

Tarini Prasad Pati, the gram rojgar sevak of Patrapur block, and Khambarigaon village head K. Ramswamy, along with the girls’ parents, reached the office of Berhampur Childline. Pati said the girls came to their villages individually to present themselves for making the Adhar cards. They were returning to the garment factory to work.

“Most of these girls are from below poverty line families. They are working in the factory with the consent of their parents. These girls are earning members of their respective families,” said Ramswamy.