Organized Child Begging Racket Uncovered in Ahmedabad

What appeared to be isolated cases of child begging at Ahmedabad’s traffic signals, temples, malls, and hospitals has unfolded into an organised trafficking network. Ahmedabad crime branch which spearheaded a drive along with AMC to take children beggars off city streets in run-up to city hosting the 2030 Commonwealth Games found that some sarpanches or village chiefs in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh had acted as brokers to recruit children from poor families and send them to Gujarat for begging. Police have so far identified 276 children allegedly trafficked into the city through the racket. Officials said the children will be enrolled in government primary schools and provided food, shelter and rehabilitation, while investigators are preparing criminal cases against those who exploited innocent children for a monetary gains.

“All beggars are not random beggars. They are part of an organised network operating across state borders,” a senior crime branch officer said. “Most of these children hail from extremely poor families and were sent by their own parents, who saw begging in big cities as a source of income.”

The officer said the racket allegedly begins in villages where syndicate operators approach sarpanches to identify vulnerable families. “Begging syndicates in Gujarat pay village sarpanches in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to procure children. The sarpanches hand over a portion of the money to the parents, keep the remaining amount for themselves and later continue to pocket 20% of the children’s daily earnings,” the officer said.

Police said the syndicate carefully selects locations to deploy children based on earning potential. “Religious places generate the highest collections, followed by traffic junctions, hospitals and shopping malls. The children are not sent randomly. Every location is chosen to maximise collections,” another crime branch officer said.

The crime branch said it has identified villages from where children are brought and mapped the locations in Ahmedabad where they are deployed. “We have identified several sarpanches and parents who were part of the arrangement. We are examining charges under child trafficking laws against them,” an officer said.