NEW DELHI: Four minor girls, who were illegally employed as domestic helps in the national capital, were rescued in a joint operation by the Delhi Police, related government departments, and a non-governmental organisation. The rescued girls, of whom three were 14 years old and one was 13 years old, were working at different houses in southeast Delhi’s Sarita Vihar area.
According to a source who was part of the raiding party, a tip-off was received regarding some girls being forcibly made to work as bonded labourers at three residential houses in Jasola Vihar and Sarita Vihar area, after which a meeting was held at the office of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Sarita Vihar) on November 28 regarding the agenda of child labour cases at some hotspots that were already identified by the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR)
During the meeting, it was decided that a raid would be conducted the next day, on November 29, and accordingly, a joint team consisting of the Tehsildar (Sarita Vihar), representatives of the DCPCR, the Labour Department, the Delhi Police, the District Child Protection Unit and an NGO called Bachpan Bachao Andolan was constituted to rescue the victim girls, who were allegedly deemed to be bonded labourers.
“When we reached the location, the victim child, wearing torn and dirty clothes came out of the house and we asked her age. Of the four victims, two were sisters working at the same house and the other two were employed at two different houses,” Manish Sharma, Director of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, told this newspaper
Sharma stated that two of the four rescued girls were from Uttar Pradesh and the other two were from Jharkhand. “During the rescue operation, the families, which had employed these girls, created a lot of ruckus and even tried to oppose the operation. They began claiming that the girl was an adult and threatened us with severe consequences,” he said.
Subsequently, the police, on the complaint of SDM Sarita Vihar, registered an FIR against three people under sections 370 (buying or disposing of any person as a slave) and 374 (unlawful compulsory labour) of the Indian Penal Code and other relevant sections of child protection laws.
As per official documents accessed by this newspaper, one of the victim girls in her statement has said that she has worked for the past 26 months daily from 7 am until late 2 am. She used to prepare food, wash clothes and utensils for a meagre sum of Rs 5000 per month.
Child rights
Child as defined by the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 is a person who has not completed the age of fourteen years.
No child shall be employed or permitted to work below 14 years of age.
Children aged between 14 and 18 are defined as adolescents and they can be employed except in certain hazardous occupations.