Eleven children were rescued by a city-based NGO and the anti-human trafficking unit of the city police in a raid conducted along with officials of the Labour Department on Thimmaiah Road in Bharathinagar police limits on Wednesday.
The raid was carried out based on a tip-off from the International Justice Mission. The 11 boys, in the age group of 12-17 years, hail from Jharkhand and have been in the city for at least a year now.
They were sent with the permission of their parents to earn some money, according to police officials. The boys were employed by two businessmen, brothers from Jharkhand, who own numerous chat shops near Coles Park.
Their parents were paid a small amount for sending them to work here. The boys worked 10-12 hours per day and were paid a meager `50 (for the older boys) and `10-`15 (for the younger boys), per day. The police have arrested Pinto (30), one of the supervisors at the chat outlets, as the owners were out of station for a wedding. The accused have been booked under Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act of 1976, and under section 370 of the Indian Penal Code.