Indian police rescue hundreds of child slaves

NEW DELHI: Indian police have rescued hundreds of child slaves as young as six during days of raids on workshops in the central city of Hyderabad, a senior officer said on Friday.
Police discovered 120 children — some of them sick, underweight and traumatised — during raids on workshops that make bangles and other goods late on Thursday, as part of a city-wide crackdown on child slavery.
“They have chronic skin diseases and were underfed. They are in trauma and visibly shaken,” V. Satyanarayana, deputy police commissioner for south Hyderabad, told AFP.
The children complained of being forced to work 16 hours a day without breaks, and were threatened with violence and no food if they disobeyed orders, the officer said.
Many were transported from the impoverished northern state of Bihar last year after their parents sold them to traffickers for 5,000-10,000 rupees, according to rescuers.
“They were kept in dingy rooms with no ventilation and exposure to harmful gases,” said Satyanarayana.
“The campaign against bonded labour and trafficking will continue.”
Police began a massive clampdown last week against dozens of workshops tucked away in the city’s narrow alleys, after tip-offs from child rights activists and police informers.
Some 220 children were rescued last week when police stormed similar workshops in the city’s south, Satyanarayana said.
Thirty-one traffickers and agents have been arrested and charged with child slavery and police are making efforts to reunite children with their families, the commissioner added.