58 child labourers rescued

58 child labourers rescued in Delhi raid
By SONAL KELLOGG
New Delhi, Feb. 8: Under the India Action Week against trafficking of children for forced labour, the labour department and the police conducted a raid in Delhi along with child rights NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan, in which 58 bonded child labourers were rescued. This is the third such incident in less than a month.
Sub-divisional magistrate L.R. Meena said that the raid was conducted on the basis of the complaint filed by BBA. The case is registered under the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 and Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976. Assistant labour commissioner S.C. Yadav told that case will also be filed on the owner of the house in which these illegal manufacturing units were running.
The rescued children were trafficked from Sitamarhi and Dharbhanga districts. These are the core areas where traffickers are taking advantage of the poor condition of the parents and bringing children, said Mr Rakesh Senger, national secretary of BBA. He also said that BBA would write to the police commissioners of Sitamarhi and Dharbhanga districts to take action on this issue.
Prof. R.S. Chaurasia, chairperson of BBA, who led this raid, said that during the Indian Action Week, the BBA team was able to rescue over 500 bonded child labourers from different states within seven days. Over 130 children were rescued from Delhi alone.
Recounting his story, Mirza (name changed), a child who was rescued, said he brought to Delhi by a person whom he had often seen coming to village and would take some children with him in a bus. He didn’t realise that one day he would also be going with this man and end up in Delhi. He, along with 57 others, was rescued from Khumara Mohalla, Old North Ghonda in the New Usmanpura police station premises. He also told the activists that the trafficker gave his father Rs 700 and his father agreed to send Mirza to Delhi.
Mirza said he used to work from 10 am to 1 am in the night and was given Rs 20 per week and this money was added to the "expenses" incurred by the employer on the children.
The room in which they were working was just in the middle of cattle shed so that nobody could know that there was a manufacturing unit. In one room there were 10 people working, including adults and children. Their working area and sleeping area was the same, with no source of ventilation, the smell of cattle dung all around and filthy rooms. Most of the children hadn’t even had a bath for days, they had dry itchy skin and some were also showing the signs of bacterial infections on their tender skin.

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