Dr. Avnish Jolly, 24th October, 2008 :Thirty-four trafficked bonded child labourers, all of seven or eight years old, were rescued from Zari (embroidery) units in Delhi. Barely clothed and exhausted after endless days of labour, the children lived in small unhygienic rooms with hardly any light and space to live. The rescued children were trafficked either from Bihar or Nepal. According to Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), there are over 50,000 children working in different Zari manufacturing units in Delhi.
Kailash Satyarthi of the BBA, which helped the police conduct raids and rescue the kids, said it’s a shame that despite 12 such raids in the last two years in the same area of North East Delhi, the culprits don’t seem to have been discouraged. Satyarthi said that not a single trafficker or employer has ever been put in jail and no efforts have been made to check influx of trafficked children in the area despite raids which proved that the crime has been committed time and again and unless restraint action is taken or unless the officials are held accountable for perpetuating the crime, this menace would continue
The rescued children will be given a release certificate under the Bonded Labour Act and a rehabilitation package of Rs 20,000. They will also be enrolled in the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) schools.
"Despite several orders from the Delhi High Court, children continue to be employed. This is against the spirit of the law and Constitution of India. We want a situation where the state takes a firm step and removes children from these units at the earliest," Satyarthi stressed.