Child labour stain on varsity employee

Inspector Ambesh Tyagi, the in-charge of Hari Parwat Police Station, said that Sunder Lal, a Dalit shoe-maker, and his family live in Pir Kalyani Colony behind the university’s Paliwal Park campus. Darshan and Manu were employed as help at the varsity canteen since Sunder Lal, handicapped by an accident, could not earn a living.

The police said Manchanda forced the two boys to come to his house after canteen hours and do the household chores. He reportedly paid the two Rs 2 every day for the work, which included massaging his mother’s feet. Manchanda allegedly beat them up with a leather belt, molested them and locked them up in his house when the boys refused to work.

Tyagi said that the case came to light when Sunder Lal, suspicious by the absence of his sons for long hours, followed them to Manchanda’s house after canteen hours. When cornered, the boys reported the matter to their father. The next day, when the boys told Manchanda that they have informed their father, he wrote a note to Sunder Lal telling him that he was holding back the children at home for some work and to serve his mother. Sunder Lal later found the two boys had been beaten up.

Following this, he approached the police and lodged an FIR against Neeraj and Sudershan Manchanda. Police said action against the two would be taken soon.

Manchanda’s father, Subhash, is already on bail in a criminal case for illegally confining and torturing a university employee and forcing him to commit suicide.