The Delhi Police,Labour department and an NGO have rescued 94 children working as bonded labourers in factories in Delhi. The children,aged between seven and 14 years,had been brought from Bihars Sitamarhi,Darbhanga and Araria districts. The child labourers were rescued in a joint raid by the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA),the Labour department,the Delhi Police,the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) and the Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA),from factories in the Usmanpur area of Northeast Delhi, BBA founder Kailash Satyarthi said. The rescued children said they were forced to work for 16 hours a day in harsh conditions. The police said the children were forced to work in poorly lit,ill-ventilated rooms and had to live there in inhuman conditions. This raid is a litmus test for the Delhi government,as it is the first rescue operation after the Delhi High Court's landmark judgment,in which it directed that cases be lodged against such employers under the Criminal Procedures Code and that Rs 20,000 be recovered for each child labourer from them immediately, Satyarthi said.
