Mumbai: The Mumbai Government Railway Police (GRP) has reported that more girls than boys have been trafficked over the past five years, according to official records. Between 2021 and April 2026, police documented 58 boys and 109 girls as victims of trafficking.
The Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of the GRP registered 167 offences related to child trafficking during this period. Of these, a remarkable 97% (162 cases) were solved by the unit. Currently, five cases remain under investigation, while 34 cases have been chargesheeted and are pending before courts.
Police officials noted that runaway children arriving in Mumbai by train, often seeking employment or drawn by the city's allure, can fall into the wrong hands. To address this, the railways have established a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for handling children in need of care and protection. Under the SOP, once an unaccompanied minor is found on railway premises, the police must produce them before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) within 24 hours.
In a recent incident last month, the railway police received a tip-off from a social worker about over a dozen children traveling alone in three coaches of the Asansol-Mumbai Express. Security agencies were alerted at stations including Itarsi, Bhopal, Aurangabad, and Kalyan. Although initial searches were unsuccessful, vigilance paid off when seven children were discovered in a coach at Thane station. The children had various reasons for traveling: some were visiting relatives, others sightseeing, and some seeking employment. They were safely escorted to the CWC in Ulhasnagar.
In another incident in April, a 14-year-old boy from Jharkhand was found alone near the general coach of a long-distance train at Kalyan. Police were searching the train after a tip-off about 10 children traveling alone. The teenager told police he was in Mumbai to tour the city. Within minutes, police contacted his family, but since they would take time to arrive, the boy was taken before the CWC.
