Poverty compelled Suresh (name changed to protect identity) to leave the comfort of home in Bihar and work in a girls' hostel in the Capital. He was never paid the money due to him.

Even after the 12-year-old was rescued from bonded labour at the hostel, he continued to be exploited. The NGO which was supposed to look after him -- while the case was pending with the JWB -- held a press conference and put Suresh on display. This is a blatant violation of the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986.

The owner of the south Delhi hostel -- Mukesh Prabhakar -- has been fined Rs 18,900 for withholding the boy's salary for nine months. If he fails to pay the fine within 15 days then he will have to undergo 15-day simple imprisonment.

The board also imposed a fine of Rs 200 on the South Asian Coalition On Child Servitude (SACCS). The JWB held SACCS chairman Kailash Satyarthi guilty of producing the boy before the national media, saying it was done only to gain publicity. The fine has to be paid in 15 days.

While admitting that the board did take a lenient view, JWB Chairman Dr B.S. Gahlaut said that this was only because the NGO was instrumental in bringing Suresh before the board.

The Others States: ``We observed that juvenile ... remained in the custody of their own organisation and no steps were taken to locate the parents of the juvenile, instead the organisation chairman and the general secretary were busy in harvesting the fruits of the publicity at the cost of the juvenile.''

The board cited Section 36(1) of the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986, which specifically states that no report in any newspaper, magazine or news-sheet of any inquiry regarding a juvenile under the Act shall disclose the name, address, school or any other particulars calculated to lead to the identification of the juvenile, without the permission of the appropriate authority. The Defence Colony Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) had rescued Suresh on August 6 and handed him over to SACCS general secretary R.S. Chaurasia as an interim measure, while reporting the matter to the JWB.

The SDM had acted on a complaint of social worker Ram Sharan, who claimed that Suresh was working as a bonded labourer in the girls' hostel and the hostel authorities were not allowing him to leave.

The 12-year-old worked at the hostel between November 1997 and August 6 this year and earned a mere Rs 1,000 for his efforts.

Suresh has now been reunited with his family in Bihar. The JWB ordered that Rs 10,000 of the fine be deposited in a fixed deposit account in the boy's name. The rest of the money will be spent on his education and rehabilitation.