Bengaluru: Four children rescued from suspected child labour slipped out of a moving vehicle and vanished into traffic in central Bengaluru on April 2, raising concerns over safety protocols during child protection operations.The children, aged between 13 and 16, had been picked up a day earlier from BMTC bus station in Majestic, following a tip-off. According to a complaint filed by BOSCO, a not-for-profit, the boys, all from a village in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, were allegedly brought to the city to work as painters by a man identified as Brijesh.Rescue teams traced the children around 11.15am on April 1 and took them to a shelter facility in Gandhinagar. The next day, as per procedure, they were produced before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) for further directions.Officials said the children, along with three others rescued in similar circumstances, were transported in a Mahindra Bolero (KA-17-P-4135) to appear before the committee around 11am. A doctor and staff members accompanied them. Following the hearing, the team began transporting the children back to the shelter home later in the afternoon.The escape occurred at about 2.05pm near an Urdu school on the Mysore Road down ramp along Dr TCM Royan Road. With traffic congestion slowing the vehicle to a crawl, the four boys, seated at the rear, managed to open the back door and jump out.“They took advantage of the slow-moving traffic and ran towards a side road behind the school. By the time staff realised what had happened and gave chase, the children had already dispersed and could not be located,” a police officer said.Initial findings point to negligence, with officials confirming that the rear door of the vehicle had not been secured. The incident has also drawn attention to the city’s persistent traffic bottlenecks, which inadvertently created the conditions for the escape.A case has been registered under Section 137(2) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for kidnapping at Cottonpet police station. Investigators are scanning CCTV footage from nearby areas, including roads around the school and the KSR Bengaluru City Railway Station, to trace the children.Police have also contacted the father of one of the boys, who works as a labourer in Bengaluru, to check if the children have attempted to return home. So far, there has been no contact.Officials said all four children are school dropouts and may have travelled voluntarily in search of work. “At this stage, it does not appear to be a trafficking case, but we are examining all angles,” the officer added.
