52 kids rescued from bangle units

Jaipur: The anti-human trafficking unit, Kotwali police along with an NGO raided three houses in Kalyanji Ka Rasta and rescued 52 children on Friday.

The children were found making bangles in the houses.

“The children who were rescued belonged to Vaishali and Samastipur. They were kept in unhygienic condition and were made to work for hours at a stretch,” Kotwali circle inspector Vikram Singh said.

All the children were boys in the age bracket of 8 years to 14 years. The police have handed them over to the child welfare committee for rehabilitation.

When the police raided the houses, the bangle unit owners hid the children. Police arrested five agents including Asif, Shakil, Farid, Junaid and Mubarak. All the accused are residents of Vaishali and Begusarai.

“Twenty children belonged to Samastipur, 8 to Vaishali, 12 were from Begusarai, 2 from Sitamani and 10 from Darbhanga. These children were brought to Jaipur by the agents to work in Jaipur’s bangle industry,” Vijay Goyal of NGO Rajasthan Bal Sanrakshan Sanjha Abhiyan (RBSSA).

He said that the rescued children will be handed over to the Bihar government so that they are able to go to school and never engage in child labour in future. All the rescued children will be declared as bounded labour so that they get the benefit in rehabilitation.

Besides, 38 children who were rescued in December have been declared as bounded labour and they will be handed over to the officials of Bihar government. They are under the protection and care of the child welfare committee.

Over the past one year, the state government has stepped up efforts to rescue children from other states, who are working as child labour in the city in bangle manufacturing units.

Courtesy: TNN