Ranchi Railway Police Target Forged ID Racket Fueling Child Trafficking

Ranchi: Railway police are preparing to launch a focused operation aimed at dismantling a network allegedly producing forged identity documents that enable traffickers to transport minor children out of the state by presenting them as adults.

Director general (railways) Anil Palta said the department works closely with Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Childline to rescue children trafficked through rail routes. “On average, we detect at least one case every week in which minors are being trafficked using fake Aadhaar cards to portray them as adults,” he said.


Palta said that whenever a minor is rescued, officers immediately verify the Aadhaar details through the UIDAI portal, and in most instances the cards are found to be counterfeit. “Aadhaar is not proof of age. After rescue, we trace school certificates wherever available. If no documentary proof exists, we conduct a medical examination to determine the child’s age,” he added.

Breaking the forgery racket would significantly weaken trafficking operations, he said. “Trafficking is an organised crime. We know funds are routed to traffickers from destination states. We are now investigating the source of these fake identity documents,” Palta said.

According to official data, railway police rescued 130 minors and arrested 44 traffickers in 2025. In Jan this year, 14 minors have been rescued and two traffickers apprehended.

Palta identified key destination states for trafficked children via rail routes. “They are taken to work as masons in Goa, in banana plantations in Maharashtra and Karnataka, garment factories in Tamil Nadu, construction sites in Chhattisgarh and roadside eateries in Haryana,” he said.

In a recent case, railway police uncovered a separate scam involving young girls trafficked to Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu using forged job offer letters. “The traffickers produced appointment letters purportedly issued by an apparel company. However, the company has since confirmed that the letters were fake. We are working to trace the origin of these documents as well,” Palta said.

Baidnath Kumar, a Jharkhand-based anti-trafficking activist, said the use of forged Aadhaar cards is widespread. “Recently, several children from Jharkhand were rescued from the Vasco Da Gama Express, all carrying fake Aadhaar cards. This is a recurring pattern. If RPF and railway police personnel are equipped with verification devices or mobile applications to check IDs instantly when suspicious cases arise, it would significantly enhance rescue efforts,” he said.