27 child labourers rescued from hellholes

NEW DELHI: Twenty-seven child labourers were rescued from a bindi factory in Nandnagar and a nailpolish factory in Samaipur Badli Industrial Estate on Friday. These factories were raided by over 15 policemen of Nand Nagri police station, supported by activists of Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA).
One of them, Sunil (name changed), was working at the bindi factory for seven months.The 11-year-old, the sole breadwinner of his family, said he was earning Rs 100 every week after putting in 13-14 hours daily, but wasn't sure if the money he was sending home was reaching his family.
Incidentally, Sunil and most other labourers, many of them from Bihar, were reluctant to admit initially that they were working at the factory. "I was here only for sightseeing," claimed 12-year-old Sanjay (name changed), though he admitted that his father's business had failed and he was living in Delhi alone.
Kailash Satyarthi, child rights activist and BBA founder, had an explanation for this behaviour. "Factory overseers constantly tell the children that they will be arrested if caught working. And once police get them, they will gouge their eyes out or rip out their kidneys. Naturally, they are terrified to see police," Satyarthi said.
BBA activist told TOI that they were informed about six bindi-making factories in Nand Nagri with 150 child labourers; however, factory owners were somehow tipped off about the raid, so most of them vanished by the time the team arrived.