PATNA, Aug. 1 -- A young girl from the Sundarbans, who accompanied her father while he begged on trains, was approached by a woman offering a well-paying domestic job in Bihar. Upon arrival, she was forced into performing in orchestras. She was later rescued from West Champaran, Bihar. Another minor girl from Dalpatpur, a village in Bihar, fled home after being scolded by her parents. With the help of her boyfriend, she boarded a Delhi-bound train, where someone was supposed to receive her. However, she ended up falling into the clutches of a musical group in Saran. It is not an isolated case. There are hundreds of minors lured and trapped into the vicious cycle of human trafficking, which police claim has grown into an organised racket through middlemen and brokers. Once famous due to the ethnic flavour of the traditional folk theatre in the Bhojpur, Saran and eastern UP regions, together called Poorvanchal, 'launda naach' , dance form performed by male artistes, has now degenerated into orchestra mainly employing trafficked children and girls. Due to its growing notoriety, far removed from the rustic charm reflected through the folk songs of Bhikhari Thakur, it has drawn the attention of the police and court alike, leading to crackdown to free minors from gross exploitation in the mushrooming orchestra groups, which are common in any marriage function or other entertainment parties in the region. A senior police officer said that while there was apparently nothing wrong with musical groups performing shows, what was alarming was the way minor children and girls are being lured into orchestras and then trapped into a life of utter exploitation and abuse. "There are an estimated 3,500 orchestras operating in Bihar alone. This industry has emerged as a significant hub for the trafficking and exploitation of minors. Many of them have been rescued and those running orchestra groups arrested, but a lot more needs to be done," he added. Orchestras are typically hired for events such as weddings, they are increasingly used for birthday parties and religious occasions, where the girls continue to face abuse and exploitation. Most of them are duped into believing that they are being invited to perform working in Album or Bhojpuri films. Most of the trafficked girls come from West Bengal, Nepal, Assam, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. With the police along with social activists rescuing many of them, including those from neighbouring countries, the Nepali embassy also sent a letter of appreciation to Saran Superintendent of Police (SP) for the noble initiative. 'Aawaj Do' in one big initiative of Saran police to prevent exploitation of women by regularly acting against it on the basis of information gathered from the people on its Helpline No. 9031600191. "We seek support from the people and that is coming," said Saran SP Kumar Aashish. The Saran SP also got a citation from ADG (Criminal Investigation Department) Amit Kumar Jain and a member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Priyan Kanungo, for the 'Aawaj Do' initiative. The latest recognition came from the Embassy of Nepal after the successful rescue of minors from Nepal. Since May 2024, Saran police have rescued 194 minor girls through special drives against the traffickers operating as orchestra groups, arrested 61 accused and registered 24 cases. The latest crackdown, in the light of a letter from NHRC, was carried out on an orchestra group on July 2 under Ekma police station area of Saran and six minor girls were rescued. The rescued girls included three from Bihar and one each from Delhi, Nepal and West Bengal. A case has also been registered with Ekma police station in this regard and further action is being taken. Earlier, official familiar with the matter told HT that a National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) official recently received an input that a large number of Indians were trafficking to Nepal and forced to perform in the orchestra troupe. The commission contacted the Nepal embassy, shared the information in which a three member team rushed to Nepal and found that the minors returned to Saran in Bihar. Later, NCPCR passed the information to the Saran SP Kumar Ashish and directed him to rescue the minor from the clutches of traffickers. The rescued girls said that they were being taken to perform in an orchestra but the truth is that these orchestras are nothing more than dance bars where they might have been sexually exploited. Investigator said that, basically, these girls are made to parade on stage when men actually choose their prey. After the dance show is over, the chosen girls are then whisked by the men to indulge in sex slavery. Ravi Kant, National Convenor, Just Rights for Children, a network of over 250 NGOs working in 418 districts across the country for child protection and child rights, told HT that minor girls are generally trafficked from source states such as West Bengal, Assam, north-eastern states, Odisha, and Jharkhand, especially from tribal regions. "They are lured under false promises of jobs, marriage, or a better life and are then pushed into orchestra groups. Once trafficked, they are subjected to abuse. Many are beaten, threatened and forced to perform vulgar dances in front of male audiences. These performances are not voluntary, and the conditions are often inhuman," he added. Ravikant said that these were not a random occurrence, but part of a well-organised trafficking racket operating under the guise of entertainment. "Musical groups themselves are not illegal. But what makes this a serious crime is the means by which many of these groups source girls. They are then trafficked, bought, and exchanged across trafficking networks. We have various instances where traffickers have sold these children to brothels that function in the garb of orchestra parties. So the crime is what remains hidden behind most of these orchestras and dance groups," he added. He said the rescue of trafficked girls is not a new phenomenon; it has been happening for years. "What's changing is the growing scale of trafficking networks and, in response, the increasing coordination among stakeholders to rescue victims. Many landmark Supreme Court judgments, including those on missing children and minors in circuses, stemmed from such rescue operations," he added. These rescues are rarely spontaneous. They are the result of meticulous multi-stakeholder coordination. For instance, when source states share intelligence based on missing children or kidnapping reports, it triggers action in destination states. Once alerted, local police, NGOs, and railway protection forces work together to trace and rescue the children. "That is why it is essential for all stakeholders, including governments, police, NGOs, and communities, to increase vigilance and strengthen interventions. Trafficking is a borderless crime, and our collective response must be equally far-reaching and determined," he added. "We are working on mission mode against child trafficking and exploitation and the results have been positive, with the rescue of 169 women including 51 adults, 506 minor boys in the last five months only. Besides, 144 human traffickers including 17 females have also been arrested," said ADG Weaker Section (CID) Amit Kumar Jain. Jain said that the figures pointed to a significant jump in rescue, as the number of minors rescued was just 71 and traffickers arrested was just 14 in 2024. "The number of rescued children was just two in 2023. There have been a higher number of orchestra groups operating in districts like Saran, Siwan, Gopalganj, Bettiah, Rohtas, Motihari etc. Recently, 44 minor girls were rescued from an orchestra group in Rohtas. We have made it clear that orchestra organisers employing children would be sent to jail and blacklisted for life," Jain added. Recently, the 47th battalion of SSB arrested two traffickers Mohammad Siraz (Uttar Pradesh) and Mohammad Riyan (Nepal) and handed over to Mothari police on the charges of trafficking five Nepali minors including three girls. They lured them on the pretext of providing jobs in Delhi and Hyderabad. All the five were from the Hindu community, but the traffickers changed their names to Muslim identities for concealment....