Woman use neighbour’s children to carry liquor bottles in train, held

The minors, a 14-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy, were hiding inside a washroom between Coach S7 and S8 as Rekha and Omkar stood guard outside.

The issue came to light when the passengers of both the coaches wanted to use the washroom and noticed that one had been shut for long. Rekha and Omkar prevented them from entering the particular washroom and allegedly threatened them. When the train reached Navsari Railway station, the passengers complained about the issue to RPF and GRP personnel.

The personnel opened the washroom and frisked the minors as Rekha and Omkar couldn’t give satisfactory answers to their questions. On recovering bottles from the minors, the GRP personnel frisked the adults accompanying them as well and seized 240 plastic bottles of IMFL in total. A case was registered at Valsad Railway police station and the couple was produced before Railway court in Surat, on June 17 and they were released on bail.

Talking to the Indian Express, Valsad Railway police sub-inspector VK Kotwal said, “All the four arrested passengers, including two children, were travelling without ticket in the Kutch Express train. We doubted if the minors were Rekha’s children but she denied and said they were from her neighborhood. Rekha took permission from their grandmother to take them for an outing in Daman. The grandmother told us that she did not know Rekha would use the children to carry liquor. Rekha might have lured the kids promising them money.”

The children were handed over to their family.