In a joint raid, 14 children were rescued from 10 bag manufacturing units in Madanpura. According to the police, the children, including two below the age of 12, were trafficked from different districts of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Nepal over the past one year.
The raid was conducted by the Nagpada police with the assistance of the Labour Department, the Juvenile Aid Police Unit and Kailash Satyarti’s Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA).
The police said over half the children were not paid wages for a period ranging from two months to a year. The children were made to work for 10 to 14 hours, and they ate and slept in cramped rooms with little or no ventilation. The children were moved to a shelter and produced before the Child Welfare Committee on November 22.
BBA spokesperson Swati Jha said, “We will make sure the children are paid their minimum wages. We will contact their parents and keep a check on the children, their surroundings, education and mental health.” The police said FIRs have been lodged against the employers under sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016, and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015.