Indian police rescue hundreds of child slaves in Hyderabad
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 01 February, 2015, 7:13am
UPDATED : Sunday, 01 February, 2015, 7:13am
Agence France-Presse in New Delhi
Indian police rescue hundreds of child slaves in Hyderabad
Indian police have rescued hundreds of child slaves as young as six during days of raids on workshops in the city of Hyderabad.
Police discovered 120 children - some of them sick, underweight and traumatised - during raids on workshops that make bangles and other goods late on Thursday, as part of a city-wide crackdown on child slavery.
"They have chronic skin diseases and were underfed. They are in trauma and visibly shaken," V. Satyanarayana, deputy police commissioner for south Hyderabad, said on Friday.
The children complained of being forced to work 16 hours a day without breaks and were threatened with violence and no food if they disobeyed orders, the officer said. Many were transported from the impoverished northern state of Bihar last year after their parents sold them to traffickers for 5,000-10,000 rupees (HK$625-$1,250), according to rescuers.
"They were kept in dingy rooms with no ventilation and exposure to harmful gases," said Satyanarayana. "The campaign against bonded labour and trafficking will continue." Police began a massive clampdown late last month against dozens of workshops tucked away in the city's narrow alleys, after tip-offs from child rights activists and various police informers.
Some 220 children were rescued recently when police stormed similar workshops in the city's south, Satyanarayana said.
Thirty-one traffickers and agents have been arrested and charged with child slavery and police are making efforts to reunite children with their families, the commissioner added.
Eleven children are reported missing in India every hour and almost 40 per cent remain untraceable. Many are trapped by gangs and forced into prostitution, child labour and slavery, according to police and activists.
India's mega cities such as Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai are a particular targets for gangs, which entice poor parents from rural areas with the promise of jobs and monthly wages but then sell the children into bonded labour. Most end up as construction or domestic workers. Others take up rag picking, agricultural work and in industries such as fireworks and bangle making.
