Railway Protection Force (RPF) on Wednesday rescued four juveniles from Varanasi who had fled their workplace in Tirupur after they were allegedly harassed and beaten by the company owner.
Around 3 p.m. on Wednesday, an RPF constable, who was on routine patrolling, saw four youngsters roaming around platform number 11 at Chennai Central Railway Station. When he questioned them, they spoke to him in Hindi.
“Since all RPF personnel know Hindi, he found out from them that they had been forced into child labour,” said a police officer.
After he passed on the information to K.K. Ashraf, senior divisional security commissioner, Chennai, inspectors T. Chenchaiah and V. Mohan made enquiries and found that all the four were from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.
“Last year, the boys — who were in their early teens — were taken to a cotton mill in Tiruppur by an agent. The agent had lied to their parents promising a good salary. However, they were only paid Rs. 50 per day and were often beaten at their workplace. They were not able to provide details about their workplace or owner,” said an officer.
The officers handed them over to the officials of Child Line.
“They will be sent to the government boys’ home. After that, their parents will be summoned and the juveniles will be handed over to them,” added the officer.
This year alone, 94 children have been rescued from Chennai Central station. Of them 30 were rescued in January, 22 in February, 30 in March and 12 in April.
“The majority of them are from places like Bihar. Most of them flee their homes due to poverty and come in search of jobs. There are also children from Andhra Pradesh who come to Chennai after a fight with their parents,” another officer said.
This year alone, 94 children have been rescued from Chennai Central station
Published - April 23, 2016 12:00 am IST
