BETTER DAYS AHEAD: A girl waiting to collect compensation at the Child Welfare Committee office in Bangalore on Monday. — Photo: K Murali Kumar

Bangalore: Eleven-year-old Mariamma came to the city from Kolar two years ago to work as domestic help in a house because the employers looked "gentle."

She said that she was working at another house in Kolar when the couple from Bangalore approached her. "They looked like a hero and heroine. They seemed really beautiful and gentle," said the orphaned girl.

It was after working in the city for a few weeks that she realised that the reality was far removed from her dream. "I used to do all the house work but they did not take care of me at all. They hardly gave me any food to eat. Worse still, they used to beat me up when they thought I had not done any of the work properly," she said.

Rescued by NGO

Mariamma was rescued by Paraspara Trust, a non-governmental organisation, last year. She now studies in Kolar and lives in a hostel there. "I really love it. I have lots of friends. I play and sing. I wish I can be this free all my life," she said at Child Welfare Committee (CWC) where she came to collect the compensation due to her from her employers. She received Rs. 20,000 in the form of a National Savings Certificate.

The 11-year-old girl says her ambition is to become a doctor. "I never want to go back to doing housework. I want to study and become an important person in the village."

Another child labourer who came to receive his compensation was 11-year-old Cariappa, who was rescued from the house of film producer Krishna Seth alias Baba Seth, along with two other boys last year.

"I never wanted to work, but my parents forced me to go there and I hated every minute of it," he said.

Cariappa said that he worked from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. doing housework.

"They used to have many parties and so we were cleaning the house or serving people drinks and food all the time," he said.

`Committed a mistake'

Lingappa, Cariappa's father, who is a coolie, admitted that he had committed a mistake in sending his son out to work.

"We needed the money and so I thought that there was no harm in sending him to work," said Mr. Lingappa and quickly added: "I will not send him to work again. I have learnt that it was a mistake. Although we still need the money, we will make do with what we have," he said. Over 50 children and their parents had appeared at the CWC on Monday to collect the compensation that was due to them from their former employers.

Final authority

The CWC, which has been constituted under the Juvenile Justice Act 2000 as a bench of Magistrates, is a final authority to dispose of cases for the core, protection, treatment and rehabilitation of children.

Over the past three years, the CWC has disposed off nearly 250 cases and distributed compensation of Rs. 14 lakh.

Working conditions

The compensation amount that CWC arrived at depended on the years of labour, the working conditions and degrees of abuse.

The highest compensation of Rs. 40,000 was awarded to 16-year-old Bihari girl who was employed as domestic help in a retired defence officer's residence. The money is being given as NSC bonds, which will be made available to the child once he/she turned 14 years.

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