Nepali children rescued from Ghaziabad councillor’s house

GHAZIABAD - Four Nepali children, who escaped to Ghaziabad from a study centre in Dehradun, were Saturday rescued from a councillor’s house here. They alleged that they had been held captive and were made to do domestic work, police said.

The children were freed after Sankalp Sikshha Prasar Samiti, a Meerut-based NGO, approached the police here and complained that the councillor, Sunil Yadav, had confined them in his Bhur-Bharat Nagar residence and was exploiting them, an official said.

The children were identified as Monu (9), Fakru (11), Sonu (9) and Jampat Sanjay (10) - all residents of Mahendranagar in Nepal.

“We were studying in a study centre on Rajpur road in Dehradun (Uttarakhand). A teacher, Ngwang Shaerb, used to beat us and make us wash his clothes. A teacher helped us in escaping from there and gave us Rs.1,300. From Dehradun we reached Haridwar and from there we came to Ghaziabad where a cycle stand owner took us to Sunil Yadav’s house on Thursday morning,” said one of the children.

“We were in his room since then. He did not allow us to go outside the house and used us as domestic helps,” the victim added.

“We have rescued the children and are talking to the school in Dehradun,” said Superintendent of Police (City) A.K. Vijaita.

The councillor, Sunil Yadav, was not immediately available for comment.