Three children rescued from sweet shop in Kodikal

October 04, 2013 09:49 am | Updated June 08, 2016 07:08 am IST - MANGALORE:

Three children from Thoothukudi district in Tamil Nadu were rescued from a sweet making unit in Sunkadakatte near Kodikal on Thursday. The raid was carried out by a team comprising personnel from Labour Department, Childline and Domestic Workers Organisation.

According to Assistant Labour Commissioner D.G. Nagesh, the raid was carried out at 3 p.m. on a tip-off that children were being made to work in the sweet shop. The raiding party found two boys and a girl, said to be aged 14 years, in the unit that was owned by P. Ravi.

In their statement the two boys said their parents who are agricultural labourers in Tamil Nadu, dropped them at the unit six months ago. The girl, who has studied till Class 5 in Tamil Nadu, was also left at the unit around the same time. The three children were found to be physically healthy. Mr. Ravi was paying each child Rs. 1,000 per month.

The three children were produced before the Child Welfare Committee and then taken to the Government Wenlock Hospital for examination to determine their age. “If the report reveals that the children are aged below 14, we will book the owner for violation of Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986. We can also book a case for violation under the Minimum Wages Act 1948,” Mr. Nagesh said.

Child Welfare Committee Chairperson Asha Nayak said the three children will be housed in an institution in Mangalore. The Committee will record statements of children shortly. The Committee has sought a report about the health condition of the three children, she said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.