27 children, who were trafficked from different districts of West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to work as forced labourers, were rescued in a raid conducted today on garment factories in Kailash Nagar here, police said.
The rescue operation was conducted on the complaint of NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) and it was headed by SDM (Gandhinagar). The raiding party comprised officials from the Delhi Police, Labour Department and members of BBA.
The children, all boys between the age of seven and 17 years, were forced to work for 13-15 hours a day, stitching and cutting T-shirts, police said.
The rescued children told the raiding party that they were made to work in extreme heat without fans and under deplorable conditions.
An 11-year-old boy, who was trafficked an year back from Bihar, was quoted by BBA as saying, "We were not given any time for rest, even if we had been pierced with a needle. 'Maalik' used to beat us if we stopped working."
During the rescue operation, eight factories were sealed and two employers were arrested.
The children were later sent to a shelter home on the orders of the Child Welfare Committee, police said.
