MUMBAI: The Mumbai police have arrested 20 persons, who had allegedly employed children under the age of 14 in various zari-making, buffing and leather-related industrial units. This follows the rescue of over 400 children from an estimated 226 units in Central Mumbai on June 1. Cases are being filed against several other employers.

After collecting information from the rescued children with the help of social workers, around 150 children who had documents and were proven to be school-going or those who were 16 and above, were released. Now there are 142 children under 14 in the shelter home at Mankhurd and 144 in the age group of 14 to 16 at other homes. Most of the children were from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Nepal. On Thursday, 23 of the 142 children went missing from Bal Kalyan Nagri at Mankhurd. Since then, security has been increased.

Tutored

Additional Commissioner of Police Subodh Jaiswal told The Hindu that there were many difficulties in the process of investigating the employers and tracing how such small children landed up in the industrial units. "There will be over 100 cases filed because there were as many as 226 units. But the problem is these children do not know the names of their employers. Some of them are too scared to identify the employer. Many are tutored to say certain things. Others are so small they cannot tell which district they come from," he said.

The accused will be booked under Section 23 and 26 of the Juvenile Justice Act 2000, section 3 r/w 14 of the Child Labour Prevention and Regulation Act, and section 374 of IPC, said the police. The 20 accused were denied bail and remanded to police custody till June 6.

Anjali Gokarn, member of the Child Welfare Committee, said the children would be escorted to their respective homes. "There are NGOs working in those districts in Bihar. So they will be prepared. There have been rescue operations earlier but this was much bigger. We want State administrations to take notice of this problem and take steps."

When asked about the possibility of the children landing again in similar situations, she said: "In these cases, when employers are released on bail, the children come back. Many families do not know what conditions their children work under. They think they will learn some skill and so they send them with some acquaintance. The administration has to provide some vocational training to children between 14 and 16 years. They have to keep these children occupied in those villages."

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous | Engagements |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Updates: Breaking News |