HYDERABAD: The Operation Smile team of the Cyberabad Police on Tuesday rescued 17 children, who were trafficked from Bihar to work in a bangle-making unit at Mailardevpally. The children, all between eight and 14 years old, were brought to the city a few months before the lockdown to work at the Samad Bangles company.
When the lockdown was imposed, the works were suspended and the owners tried to send the children back to Bihar. But with no transportation facilities, they were forced to confine the children to the unit, without proper facilities, till the lockdown was lifted. The unit started functioning a couple of months ago, the police found.
The Operation Smile team and Child Line officials raided the unit at Vattepally under the Mailardevpally police limits and found 17 children working. Locked up in a room, with not enough food and clothes, they were made to make bangles.
This took a toll on their health. The unit owner has been booked under Sections 374 of the IPC, 79 of the JJ Act and 14 of the Child Labour Act. They children were sent to a shelter home after being produced before the Child Welfare Committee.