 | | | | | | | | | | |  |  | | | | Paranormal: Terror of the mysterious van strikes station kids">2. Paranormal News | | | | | | | 
2. Paranormal News | News submitted by: MIB
AHMEDABAD: Like ghostly apparitions, people get off a mysterious white van that suddenly appears at the railway station here, pick up children at random, bundle them in and drive off. The kids are never seen again.
These are not scenes from a horror film, instead the grim reality faced by street children living on the murky streets dimly lit by the fading neon lights of the parking lot at the Ahmedabad railway station in this principal Gujarat city.
It is estimated that about 35-40 children, mostly beggars and wanderers, have disappeared this way in the last one year. They have been allegedly kidnapped from the station's premises in Kalupur neighbourhood of east Ahmedabad.
It is an unseen, unreported crime that the railway police are only now taking notice of.
The children at the station spend their days in fear, huddled close together awaiting some action.
It was only after months of persuasion that the railway police agreed to look into the matter, finally brought to light by Child Line, an Indian NGO working for street and destitute children.
According to Child Line field worker Farooque, the children have been witnessing the terror of the van for the last year.
"Children on the railway platform told me that a white van which looks like a police van swoops down anytime during day or late in the evening and picks up children from the platform randomly," said Farooque.
"After bundling them (children) into the van, the van drives off and children disappear for ever," he added.
Farooque and some of the literate children even managed to get the registration number of the van -- J-7G-1090.
"Since this number did not belong to any government vehicle and turned out to be a fake, we decided to lodge a police complaint," said Farooque.
The railway police, on its part, have registered the case but are yet to achieve any breakthrough.
"There are allegations of kidnapping, but it is very hard to establish them. Children on the platform are mostly beggars and homeless. They don't have any proof of their existence like residence or ration card," said a railway police official.
But it's real enough for the children, living out their days and nights in terror of the van that might come.
In the Hollywood hit "A Nightmare on Elm Street", a notorious demon scared children by brandishing blade fingers and burnt face in their dreams. On the streets near Ahmedabad's railway station, the white van seems to dominate children's dreams.
Thirteen-year-old Ravji tries to pacify his six-year-old brother Moti but in vain. Both eke out their existence by begging on the railway platform.
And they saw the van only last week.
Ravji still shivers when reminded of his encounter with the white van.
"It was early in the morning, probably at 4 a.m., when I saw the van parked just by the staircase of the railway station's entrance. Two giant figures got out of the van and started looking at the platform.
"Fortunately, all the children had gone to a nearby slum and I with my brother were behind a tea stall. Before they could spot me I made for the railway tracks and escaped from their clutches," Ravji told IANS.
There are many children who associate the van with supernatural elements and even ghosts.
"It is a 'churail' (witch)," said four-year-old Gita, a beggar.
While railway police officials have awakened from their slumber and have started thinking about a probe, the railway administration is yet to even acknowledge the children's plight.
"These children are scum on the face of the railway station. They spread filth. They are not our passengers, why should we bother about them?" asked a senior railway official.
The van may seem unreal but clearly isn't.
http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IEP20031126064749&Title=States&Topic=0
|
| | | | | | | |
| |
blocks-left.jpg
blocks-left.jpg
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| |
Article Rating |
|
|
| |
|
| |
Average Score: 0
Votes: 0
|
|
|
| |
|
blocks-left.jpg
|
Online Stats: 
