Child labour: Several boys rescued in Mumbai, were not allowed to step out, speak to parents or paid

The employer, however, did not keep the promise and stopped paying the boys any money. He also began disallowing them from speaking to their parents, as they would have complained about the conditions they were living in. “A few months ago, the elder brother fell ill and due to lack of any medical facility or nutritious food, his condition deteriorated. As he was not able to work in the unit, the employer sent him back home. Once he returned, he remained quiet for a few days due to the trauma he went through, but eventually told his parents about the ill-treatment,” said Santosh Poonia, programme manager, legal education and advocacy of non-profit initiative, Aajeevika Bureau, which alerted authorities in both the states. The organisation, which began a labour helpline in 2011, for workers in the unorganised sector, has been operating it with the Rajasthan government since 2015.

During a public hearing organised as part of the helpline, the father of the boys approached the authorities. “The boy had the number of the employer and knew that the unit was in the suburb of Kurla. Since the area is large, it was difficult to locate the unit. The boys were not allowed to step out of the unit where they worked for over 18 hours a day, cleaning the place, cutting vegetables and preparing other material for the tiffin service. If we had called the employer, he would have been alerted,” said Deepak Paradkar, a field executive with Aajeevika, who led the rescue in Mumbai.

Paradkar called up the employer claiming that he wanted to enroll for the tiffin service and asked for the address details. After visiting the unit and confirming that children were employed there, the suburban collector was alerted, and a team constituted for the rescue. While the team expected to rescue the 12-year old boy, they also found six other boys employed with the tiffin service unit and two other units nearby.

All the boys were produced before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), and are likely to be issued release certificates this week. After initially hesitating after the rescue, the boys revealed to the CWC that they were made to work for over 18 hours at a stretch, disallowed to step out of the unit and were constantly assaulted by the employer and were not given any medical assistance if they fell ill. Three men have been booked, including the employer of the two brothers, Bhawarlal Parihar, for sections including Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976, Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act.

As the two boys belong to a Scheduled Tribe, authorities said that the police should have also booked the accused under Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. “We had sought documents from the parents to invoke sections of the Act. The documents have now been received and verified. We will be informing the court soon,” said senior police inspector Dattatray Shinde, Kurla police station.