BENGALURU: Following directions from Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, the North division police arrested four shop owners and rescued 19 child labourers employed by them at the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Yard in Yeshwanthpur on Tuesday.
Four separate FIRs have been registered at the jurisdictional RMC Yard police station against the shop owners under provisions of the Child Labour (Prohibition) Act and the Juvenile Justice Act. Also, five reports under the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986 have been sent against shop owners directly to the court.
While talking to women workers during his inspection at the APMC Yard on Tuesday morning, Shivakumar found out that children were engaged in heavy labour.
He directed senior police officers present at the spot to look into the issue. Five police teams were immediately formed and they rescued the children, who were below 14. The children are from Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka.
“The special teams comprised ACPs and inspectors of North division and labour inspectors. The police teams checked each and every corner of the APMC Yard and rescued 19 child labourers from different states. Out of the 19, 13 are from Bihar including one girl, two each from West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh and one each from Rajasthan and Karnataka.
Around 10 of them were working as loaders and unloaders. The drive will be conducted regularly,” City Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh told the media.
The arrested are identified as A Shahid Majid (60), B Prakash (39), S Amir (33) and A Mohammed Saif (27).