Neeraj Punj, a volunteer of Helping Hands from Chandigarh, informed on Tuesday that 45 persons from Nagaland were in jails in Punjab on non-bailable charges after they were arrested on 14th and 15th May 2024 when Punjab Police busted two fake call centres in Patiala.
Helping Hands is the non-profit organisation, founded by IPS officer Robin Hibu, that works for the welfare of people particularly from North East India.
Speaking at an event in Wokha, Punj highlighted that when he contacted the parents of the youth, many parents were unaware that their children were “rotting” in jail in 46 degree Celsius for over one month while some were very “apprehensive” perhaps because they do not know the legal process or the gravity of the seriousness of the case. He also said that parents could be apprehensive because they do not have the resources, think that Chandigarh is too far or due to social stigma.
Further, Neeraj Punj urged the Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) S Supongmeren Jamir, who was present at the event, to take the matter to the State Government to facilitate the release of the 45 youth in Punjab jails.
Read more: Punjab Police arrests 155 employees of fake call centres; Nagas believed to be among arrested
The Helping Hands volunteer emphasised the need to spread awareness among the public on verifying recruiting companies before sending wards to work outside the Nagaland. He provided some tips on checking the validity of such companies which includes
– verifying the “contact details” of the company
– checking if the company is registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs from the MCA website
– going through the company’s website and check whether the physical address of the company exist or not on Google Map
– analyse the privacy policy of the company
– check the advertisement of the company, fake companies usually put out advertisements with grammatical errors
– reading public reviews of the company
– check for the nine digit number Employer Identification Number (EIN), which registered companies will have
– ask contacts, NGOs such as Helping Hands to verify the authenticity of the recruiting companies
