NEW DELHI: Fourteen child labourers, most of them in poor health and with burn injuries, were rescued from various hotels, roadside eateries and factories in west Delhi’s Naraina area, an NGO said on Friday. The children, aged between 12 and 17, were rescued during a joint raid conducted by Delhi Police, Delhi Labour Department and Bachpan Bachao Andolan on Thursday night. Bachpan Bachao Andolan is an NGO founded by Nobel Peace laureate Kailash Satyarthi.
An FIR has been registered in the matter. Nine factories and hotels that engaged the children for work have been sealed, a senior police official said.“The rescued children were working in miserable and hazardous conditions, and most of them had burn marks on their hands and the rest of their bodies,” Bachpan Bachao Andolan said in a statement.Four of the children are visually impaired, while one child does not have vision in one eye, it said.
Most of the rescued children hail from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand and were working at roadside eateries, hotels, vehicle repair shops, and meat and sweet shops in Naraina, the statement said.“Despite having strong laws to protect children from all kinds of exploitation and child labour, people continue to employ underage children in commercial activities and exploit them,” said Bachpan Bachao Andolan director Manish Sharma.After being rescued, all the children underwent a preliminary medical examination. They were produced before the Child Welfare Committee and shifted to a shelter home, the statement said.