The Hindu : New Delhi News : `Abducted' Nepalese boy found

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 07, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

`Abducted' Nepalese boy found

By Devesh K. Pandey

NEW DELHI, NOV. 6. An eight-year-old Nepalese boy who was recently "abducted" by his uncle from Haryana and reportedly taken to Uttar Pradesh via Delhi was found abandoned at Chitwan on the Indo-Nepal border a week ago. While efforts are under way to restore him to his parents, it is feared that several such children are being trafficked in the same manner to and from Nepal to use them as carriers of smuggled drugs.

Pradip Poudel, a resident of Rewari in Haryana, was found weeping near a border security checkpoint at Chitwan by the local police. With the intervention of a Nepal-based non-government organisation named Centre for Legal Research and Resource Development, the police came to know that the boy was abandoned by his drunkard uncle after he spotted policemen at the checkpoint.

The victim could just reveal that his family originally belonged to Lamjung in Nepal and that he studied in Saraswati Vidya Mandir at Malepura in Rewari. Through UNIFEM officials and Shakti Vahini, an NGO working in the field of human trafficking, Pradip's parents were finally traced this past Thursday and informed about the condition of their son. Rishikant of Shakti Vahini said: "Pradip's parents told us that his uncle had taken him away without informing them."

Citing the incident, Mr. Rishikant said a number of children were being trafficked between India and Nepal to be abused mostly for smuggling of drugs. "The drug traffickers use children as carriers because they seldom attract the attention of security agencies posted in the border areas. In several cases it has been found that traffickers hide drug consignments in the undergarments of these children and make them cross the border without being noticed or properly checked by the border police," he added.

The apprehension is that a considerable amount of drugs, mostly high-quality hashish marijuana, smuggled in through Chitwan border from Nepal reaches Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh from where it is further transported to other parts of the country.

In order to put a check on trafficking of children and women through the Indo-Nepal border, Mr. Rishikant said earlier there were plans to establish a dedicated team of police to work in this area. "However, it has not materialised yet," he said, adding that Pradip's parents were now on their way to Chitwan to take him back home.

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