The National Human Rights Commission has issued a notice to Delhi government and the city police over reports of 26 boys from Bihar being found working as bonded labourers in a denim factory in north-east Delhi last month.
The Commission has observed that the content of the report is "painful" and narrates a horrible story of the plight of the poor victims who had been kept in bondage in extremely inhuman conditions.
The NHRC today said it has issued notice to the Chief Secretary and the Delhi Police Commissioner and sought detailed reports in four weeks about steps taken for relief, issuance of release certificates and rehabilitation of the victims, aged 8-13.
"The Commission has also asked them to inform about action taken against the employer and preventive measures taken or proposed to be taken to ensure that such incidents do not occur in future," it said in a statement.
According to reports, all 26 boys belong to Bihar's Motihari district, who were brought to Delhi around six months ago. Six of them are from the same village, indicating that they could also have been victims of child trafficking, the NHRC said.
The boys were rescued from the factory in Seelampur area.
Expressing serious concern over the incident, the Commission also observed how neither the police nor the civil authorities could check such an illegal activity within the national capital.
"This not only indicates that human rights of these victims were violated by their employer by way of committing cruelty upon them but also highlights that the administration, particularly the labour department, has failed to perform its duty as per law," the Commission said.
Reportedly, the job of the children was to cut threads of denim and pack it.
"The task was to pack 10 pieces of the cloth item in 10 minutes and the one who finished last used to be beaten up with a hammer by the employer. The victims were forced to work for 22 hours a day," it said.
"As per the report, the employer used to beat them up with a hammer if anyone was found sleeping or going to washroom during work. Due to lengthy sittings, many of them are not able to walk properly. Injury marks were found on their bodies and one of them could not even open his eyes in the sunlight," the NHRC said.
They are at present staying at Mukti Ashram, a children home run by the Bachpan Bachao Andolan, an NGO headed by Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi.
"The report quoted Satyarthi as saying that little has changed after three decades when the worst case of slavery was unearthed in 1983, rescuing 27 children from the carpet industry in Mirzapur of Uttar Pradesh," the Commission said.
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