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Journalism of Courage
This is an archive article published on December 19, 2018
Mumbai: 15 child labourers rescued from leather goods factory
This was the biggest rescue in the last two years, said the police. The boys were being forced to work and live on the factory premises without any external contact, officers said.
Six men, including owners and managers of the premises, were arrested and handed over to the Nagpada police station. (Representational)
Police claimed to have rescued 15 boys, aged between 12 and 15, from a leather goods manufacturing unit on Tuesday.
This was the biggest rescue in the last two years, said the police. The boys were being forced to work and live on the factory premises without any external contact, officers said.
The Juvenile Aid and Protection Unit of the police’s Social Service Branch (SSB) raided the unit in Gulshan Compound on R S Nimkar Marg following a tip-off.
Six men, including owners and managers of the premises, were arrested and handed over to the Nagpada police station. “The boys were taken away from their families in UP and Bihar, brought to Mumbai and made to work. They were made to work on machines for 15 hours a day producing leather trolley bags,” said R B Mane, assistant commissioner of police (SSB).
While the rescued children were sent to the Dongri Children’s Home, the accused were booke on charges of human trafficking under the Indian Penal Code, the Juvenile Justice Act and the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act.
“On Children’s Day this year, we went all over the city getting children to give roses to factory owners and pleading with them to not hire minors,” said Mane.
He added: “On November 15, we also organised a meeting of owners of manufacturing units in Nagpada and sensitised them about labour laws and the Juvenile Justice Act. Despite that, they have continued to employ children.”
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