Child slavery: 45 kids rescued from 14 factories in Wazirpur
New Delhi: As many as 45 child labourers were rescued from the premises of 14 factories in North West Delhi's Wazirpur Industrial area.
The raids were conducted by SDM Saraswati Vihar along with labour Department, Delhi Police and Delhi based NGO. The minors were involved in toy-manufacturing, steel polishing and packaging or assembling. A case has been registered in this regard. According to police, all the rescued kids were sent to Mukti Aashram after medical examination. Deputy Commissioner of Police (North West) Vijayanta Arya said that the children include 42 boys and three girls. "The further investigation in the case is going on," said DCP North West.
According to rescuers, when they entered into premises of an industrial unit in the Wazirpur area, they found that the children were dressed in half pants or pyjamas and T-shirts. It was also being suspected that some of the children managed to escape from the area. After the rescue children were gathered at one place and most of them had fine dust covering their arms and faces. Few children had wrapped a piece of cloth on their face to save themselves from the dust that flew from the steel that they were polishing.
Most of the employers were not present, with only managers overseeing functioning. "The rescued kids are the natives of other states mostly from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh," an officer said. The three rescued girls were found working in the toy manufacturing unit.
Sources said that rescuers interacted with the minors. It was revealed that kids were school dropouts. The poor economic condition was the reason which forced these kids to work in different factories under hazardous circumstances.
A case under section 16 Bonded labour system (abolition) act, section 75, 79 JJ Act, section 3 and14 of child labour prohibition act and 370 of IPC was registered at Ashok Vihar police station.
The Delhi Police data revealed that in the year 2018 as many as 118 cases were registered in Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act. In 2019 (up to May 15), nearly 31 cases have been in the current year.
