9 rescued Nagaland girls among 23 leave for homes

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 26

Nine Nagaland girls, who were rescued by the police around a week ago, were sent back to their homes in a bus here on Tuesday. They were locked inside their rented accommodation by the owner of the house after they failed to pay the rent amid the curfew restrictions imposed due to the Covid-10 pandemic.

The incident came to light when the girls approached the authorities of a local church along with a leader of the Jalandhar-based Naga Students’ Union and narrated their ordeal who later sought the intervention of the district administration. The matter was later sorted out after the hotel management where they were working released their salaries and the rent was paid to the owner.

Dr Pardeep Kumar Samantaroy, Bishop of Church of North India, said a total of 21 Nagaland girls, a boy and a girl from Arunanchal Pradesh left for their homes. He said a total of 11 Naga girls were rescued in the recent past while many others were working in the hotels in the holy city that took the number to 23. He said a total of 90 girls and boys from Punjab, including from Jalandhar and Phagwara, would be leaving for Nagaland.

He said the district administration helped us in getting e-passes instantly while Church of North India and the Naga Students’ Union contributed and arranged for buses to ferry them to their native state. It would take around two days and three nights for them to reach there.

He said the medical examination of all the passengers were done, buses sanitised and social distancing would be maintained in the buses also.