In a troubling incident on Monday, 32 Muslim students and their guardian were detained for over 14 hours by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) at Mokama railway station in Bihar. The group was en route to Surat, Gujarat, to resume studies at Jamia Zakariya Madarsa after Eid holidays.
According to family members and eyewitnesses, the students were stopped because of their religious attire—kurta-pajamas and skull caps. Despite presenting valid identity cards and madarsa admission documents, the RPF reportedly accused them of being victims of child labour trafficking.
“The kids had just spent Eid with their families and were heading back to their school,” said Qaisar Rehan, a resident of Maida Babhangama village. “They showed all the documents, but the officers didn’t listen.”
A video that has gone viral on social media shows the children sitting inside a holding area, visibly anxious and confused. Local residents claim the children were not given food during detention and were denied contact with their families.
“They were crying. Some hadn’t eaten all day. They didn’t even know what they had done wrong,” said a villager who attempted to intervene.
When community members reached the police station to seek the children’s release, they were allegedly threatened with arrest. “They warned us to leave or face jail,” said Amin, another local resident. “But we stood firm. We told them, ‘If you won’t release the children, take us instead.’”
Eventually, after sustained pressure and negotiations, the RPF released the students and their guardian late at night. Still, the trauma of the experience has left a lasting impact.
“We were all crying,” said one student. “We just wanted to go home.”
The incident has sparked outrage across the region. Community members accuse the authorities of religious profiling and mishandling. They are demanding accountability from the RPF for what they describe as unlawful detention and inhumane treatment.
So far, neither the RPF nor local police have issued an official statement on the matter.
This is not the first such case. In recent years, several similar incidents have been reported where Muslim children travelling to or from madarsas were stopped on suspicion of trafficking. In July 2023, nine students from Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama in Lucknow were detained at a railway station in Madhya Pradesh on similar suspicion.
Earlier, in June 2022, a group of 12 madarsa students from Bihar were stopped by the Uttar Pradesh Police while travelling to Saharanpur.
