As 18-year old Mohammad Laddan from Gaya District in Bihar got to his seat in the train, he was wondering what it was that had attracted so much media attention. It was the end to his one-year stay in Hyderabad, where he had been working for a bangle manufacturer for an amount of just Rs.3000 a month.
“I like Hyderabad. I had come from Bihar to find work, so I could send money home to my mother, because I don’t have a father any more,” he said. He was among the 83 children who were being sent back home on the Secunderaabd-Patna Express train here on Thursday from Secunderabad Railway station, after being rescued by Labour Department officials from bangle and clothes shops in the old city.
Like Laddan, another 18-year old, Mohammad Hakmuddin from Bihar was also one among those who was being sent back. Both had the same story, with minor differences. Hakmuddin said that he simply boarded a train to Hyderabad to come here and find work along with his brother, while Laddan said that he was sent by ‘someone’.
When asked how he managed to find ‘work’ in Hyderabad, Laddan shot back saying, “How do you find out about anything? Through other people only.” Each child who was being sent back had a different story to tell, but the one common thread in all of them was that they were simply being exploited by the industry owners.
Hyderabad-3 Assistant Labour Commissioner Shyam Sunder Jaju said that in most cases the children were not aware of what was happening to their money. “Though they were being told that their parents were being paid, it could just be a lie. Also, some might have been sold by their parents also. We need to ascertain all facts,” he mentioned.
Mr. Jaju added that about 300 cases would be booked in total against those who had exploited the children. Telangana Labour Commissioner A. Ashok stated that offenders are being booked under section 3 of the Child Labour Act and sections 16, 17 and 18 of the Bonded Labour Abolition Act, for non-bailable cases.
Mr. Ashok also said that the children who were rescued had come from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan, Bangladesh and even Burma. Though the Labour Department had maintained that it had rescued a total of 343 children, including 20 from Hyderabad, numbers from the Women and Child Welfare department (WDCW), which keeps the rescued children in its shelter, has different figures.
Mohd. Imtiyaz, in-charge of the District Child Protection Office, Hyderabad, said that 82, 100, and 83 (Total 265) children were sent in three batches since January 24, the date from when they were rescued. “Presently there are still some of them in our juvenile homes from Bihar and West Bengal,” he said.
When asked about the 18-year olds who were rescued in spite of being above the age of 14, since they could work, Imtiyaz explained that as per the Labour Department, it is prohibited to employ children under 14 and that the Juvenile Justice Act prohibits from employing anyone below 18.
“As of now, there are 26 children from Bihar and another 32 from West Bengal with us in our shelter homes. Once we talk and coordinate with the respective government officials, we will send them back. We need to take care of rehabilitation and ensure that they do not return,” stated Imtiyaz.
Labour Department Principal Secretary R. V. Chandravadan said that the focus would be on migrated children, to save them from exploitation and send them back home. “They were found during a cordon search by the police for arms, while they were working in bangle and cloth factories. We suspect there could be about 2,000 of them still being employed,” he added.
