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Indian girl rescued from traffickers thanks to a tweet

'The victim contacted a co-passenger and informed him about being taken to Delhi against her wish'

Serina Sandhu
Thursday 07 January 2016 16:55 EST
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The girl was rescued by the Railway Protection Force
The girl was rescued by the Railway Protection Force (Indian Railway Ministry/South Central Railway)

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A young woman has been rescued from allegedly being trafficked to New Delhi after the Indian’s government’s Ministry of Railways was alerted to the situation on Twitter.

Radha Lohar, 19, had been travelling on a train from Hyderabad to New Delhi on Tuesday, when she passed a message to another passenger to tell them she was being taken to the city “against her wish”.

The passenger then told the Railway Protection Force about the situation. They also sent a photo of the note to a family member, Divyansh Khunteta, who tweeted the image to the Ministry of Railways.

The information was then passed onto the train operator, South Central Railway, before officials from the Railway Protection Force (RPF) managed to stop the train at Ramagundam station and rescue the girl.

She has now been taken under the protective custody of an NGO.

South Central Railway said: “The timely action of the railway officials, who acted on a tweet, enabled [the] rescue of an orphan girl.”

The statement said the girl was from West Bengal. She had been working with a placement agency in Delhi and had come to Hyderabad for work.

“The victim contacted a co-passenger and informed him about being taken to Delhi against her wish, which was passed o­n by him to the Railways.”

“[She] along with the accompanying passengers was detained at Ramangundam. The girl was taken under the protective custody of Pratham, an NGO.”

The RPF plans to send her home to West Bengal.

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