Delhi. Bachpan Bachao Andolan, Kotwali, Daryaganj’s SDM, Labor Department, Child Development Section and Police, 41 children were freed from the toy factories in Azad Market. Children rescued during these raids, which were killed in collaboration with the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi, were clearly hungry and exhausted.
Dozens of factories located on Ram Bagh Road in Azad Market were sealed after raids and FIRs have been lodged against their owners at Bada Hindu Rao police station. The rescued children ranged in age from 13 to 17 and were all in ragged clothes and barefoot. It is alleged that all these children were made to sleep daily from nine in the morning till midnight. They were neither given proper food nor did they have any place to sleep. After working till midnight, he had to sleep in the factory itself. The rescued children are from Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand. After the rescue, the Chief District Health Officer (Central Delhi) got all these children medically examined. After this these children were produced before the Child Welfare Committee from where they were sent to a shelter home.
Kotwali, Daryaganj SDM Arvind Rana, who is leading the operation, said in the order that these factory owners have violated the provisions of the Child and Juvenile Labor Act, Juvenile Justice Act and Bonded Labor Abolition Act. On the orders of the SDM, the police have registered an FIR against these factory owners under the provisions of Bonded Labor Act, Child Labor Act, Juvenile Justice Act and Trafficking Act.
On the alarming problem of child trafficking and child labour, BBA Director Manish Sharma said, “It is a matter of concern for the entire society that even after decades of independence, we have not been able to free our children from the scourge of child labour. It is a matter of shame for all of us to see children making toys at the age of playing with toys. This is the second major action of BBA to free children from child labor in the national capital in the last ten days. Last week, 14 children were rescued from Naraina in a joint action by BBA, SDM, Delhi Cantt, Labor Department and Police. Most of them were in poor health and had burn marks on their hands and feet.
