Hyderabad: 26 child labourers freed from bondage

Hyderabad: In a breakthrough, the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of Rachakonda police on Wednesday rescued 26 children aged between 15-17 from different workshops in Bhongir and arrested four persons who were involved in the employing the children and forcing them to work in harsh conditions. Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat said that the AHTU got credible information about the ongoing activities wherein children were employed to work in inhumane conditions.

He said, "Upon receiving the information, the teams raided four places, i.e., Yadadri traders, Maruthi Polymers, SSR Industry and one Samosa making shed and rescued the children while arresting the employers. Out of the rescued children, 9 belonged to Jharkhand, 7 hailed from Chhattisgarh, 3 from Bihar, 3 from Madhya Pradesh, 1 from West Bengal and 3 from Telangana." "The owner of the Samosa making unit, B Venkat Reddy employed 2 child labourers (1 boy and 1 girl) to make Samosas. The reason he employed children was because they worked for long hours for just Rs 50 and were tasked to make 100 Samosas, whereas, elders would charge more for such quantity. Hence, he hired children and exploited them. Yadadri Traders is an empty beer bottles washing company and the owners employed six minor girls to do such a tedious task," stated the Commissioner.

"Owners of Maruthi polymers who are in the business of making chairs and coolers, employed 13 children from other states to work in inhumane conditions and exploited them by forcing them to work for long hours. The SSR foam industry, which is into the business of making sofas, employed four children and exploited them. Overall, 26 children between the age group of 15-17 were rescued and sent to children home and from there they will be sent back to their native states along with their parents. Also, the four accused who were involved in this offence were arrested and few others are absconding. But, they will be arrested as our special teams are working on the case," explained the cop.