For children living in poverty or violence in India, running away can seem the only way out – but they often find themselves even worse off. Many end up living on railway platforms around the country.
A young boy seeks shelter on a railway platform in Bhopal, India.
Rohit (not pictured) ran away four years ago to escape violent beatings from his father. Now living at a railway station, Rohit faces violence from a number of people. Officers from the Railway Protection Force and the General Railway Police, shopkeepers, rickshaw drivers and older boys see these children as easy targets. Sexual abuse is all too common.
ActionAid launched Bachpan – meaning ‘childhood’ in Hindi to better protect the rights of children living on the platforms in Madhya Pradesh.
Bachpan has a 24 hour shelter where children can eat, sleep and come and go freely. The project has returned 551 runaways home since 2005 and has also reduced the number of children under the age of 12 living on the platforms.
