In order to stop the trafficking of young girls from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the Kerala police uncovered a human trafficking ring and detained three additional people, including a pastor who lives in Kochi. Jacob Varghese, the Pentecostal Church pastor who was detained, allegedly pretended to administer the Karuna Charitable Trust, an orphanage in Kochi’s Perumbavur district, while actually engaging in criminal business.

A case has been filed against the pastor and the other suspects, who were acting as agents, in accordance with section 370 (1) (2) (3) (4) (human trafficking) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). According to representatives of Childline, a separate Juvenile Justice Act complaint will be made against the orphanage.

According to sources, the event came to light after members of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) saved 12 young girls from the Okha-Ernakulam Express as it arrived at Kozhikode railway station on the evening of July 27. (Wednesday).
Following a tip, the railway protection force (RPF) authorities detained 12 girls at the Calicut Railway Station after asking about the course of their Okha Express voyage. RPF Inspector Upendra Kumar claimed this. The Inspector continued by saying that the girls who had been saved had been given to the railway police, who then gave them to the Child Welfare Committee.
Six adults were said to be traveling with the victims. Four of them reportedly have two daughters as their offspring.

Three of the six individuals, including agents Lokesh Kumar and Shyam Lal, have been taken into custody. According to reports, the people who were traveling with the girls told the police that they were going to a dormitory run by the NGO Karuna Charitable Trust so they might receive an education. Jacob Varghese, the director of the charitable trust, was subsequently held.
According to a story in the Hindustan Times, P Abdul Nasar, the head of the district child welfare committee, said that 11 of the rescued children were from the Banswara region of Rajasthan and one girl was from Madhya Pradesh. All of the kids are between the ages of 9 and 12, and the majority of them lack identity cards. They were afraid and worn out.

Nasar also said that the females who were saved would receive counseling and medical care. Nasar stated, “Police have contacted the parents of some of the girls. The parents reportedly told the police that the girls were being sent to Kochi for education and after fulfilling all the formalities, they will be sent back to their parents.”

A senior police officer who wished to remain anonymous revealed that a well-organized trafficking ring was bringing needy youngsters from underdeveloped areas of the north and northeast to Kerala.

Significantly, there were more orphanages in north Kerala as a result of religious approval, and some of them were accused of being converts.

After 580 children from West Bengal, Chattisgarh, Odisha, and Bihar were transported to Palakkad in several batches in 2014, a significant interstate racket was uncovered. Two Muslim orphanages in Malappuram and Kozhikode were subsequently scheduled. Although the Kerala High Court recommended a CBI investigation into trafficking in 2015, it made little progress.

Earlier, reports about two Keralite Hindi-speaking women who were duped into being trafficked in Kuwait by two men named Ajumon and Majeed surfaced in June of this year. The accused has been charged under sections 34, 406, 420, and 506 of the Indian Penal Code after the Ernakulam Town South police reported the case.

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