The Maharashtra Government has issued notices to eight television production houses for alleged violation of the Child Labour Act and Juvenile Justice Act. All these production houses have shows featuring children.Minister for Labour Nawab Malik said violations such as not informing the Labour Commissioner before employing children to play characters in serials, making them work well beyond the stipulated four hours a day, and so on have been reported in these cases. He said child labour is not just about poor children earning their livelihood and that the producers have been ordered to file a reply within a week.He added that sections 6,7,8,9 and 11 of the Child Labour Act and sections 23 and 24 of the Juvenile Justice Act (read with Section 374 of the IPC) have been invoked in these cases. He also pointed out that the principal of a school where one of the child actors is enrolled has complained that she has not been attending school ever since she started acting in a serial.Asked if acting in a TV serial can be included in the definition of employment, Malik said, “They are getting paid for it, so it’s employment.”There have been reports that children working in television shows are made to work for 12 to 14 hours at a stretch, Malik said. “We would like to ensure that work environment does not hamper their education and cause undue mental stress,” he said.Meanwhile, sources in the Labour Department said notices have been served to producers of various shows featuring children, including Balika Vadhu, Uttran and Chhote Ustad on Colors channel, Chhota Package Bada Dhamaka on Zee TV and Chak De Bacche on 9X channel.With inputs from PTI
