By IANS
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Wednesday issued notice to the Delhi government on a petition of a voluntary agency seeking directions for appropriate steps for rehabilitation of the child labourers rescued from embroidery units in south Delhi.
In a public interest litigation (PIL), the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (‘Save Childhood Agitation’) of Swami Agnivesh said that the government was not accepting the children as bonded labourers and abdicating its duty.
A bench headed by Chief Justice M.K. Sarma asked the Department of Social Welfare of the city government to file its reply in two weeks.
Adjourning the matter till Dec 12, the court expressed its concern that despite repeated issuance of directions, authorities had failed to check child labour in the capital.
The NGO submitted that the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of the area refused to accept the children as bonded labourers. The report of the SDM given to the state government said they were artisans and working voluntarily in the embroidery factories.
The problem of the children, mostly from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, was that if they did not work, they would starve to death, said the defending counsel before the court.
All of them belong to poor families and were here to earn a livelihood for survival, counsel said.
On Monday and Tuesday, the NGO with the help of police rescued 14 children working in embroidery units at Shahpur Jat, an urban village in the city.
When the NGO and the police squad raided the place, the kids were busy at work. None protested when they were told to abandon their work and come downstairs. Some looked dazed and some confused while a few other children were almost on the verge of tears.
Many refused to talk to reporters. Many of them were refusing to go back to their villages, fearing a beating from their family members.
However, when the children were produced before the SDM he refused to declare them as child labourers.