The Hindu : Kerala News : A new lease of life

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 11, 2006
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Kerala

Kerala

A new lease of life

RESCUED: Social activists rescuing a child labourer from a shop in Kochi.

Anil and Shobha, child labourers rescued recently from Kochi, did not have much to dream about in their lives.

The children did not go to bed listening to lullabies or bedtime stories. They often slipped into sleep induced by hard labour.

Anil, 13, from Kodagu in Karnataka, was brought to Kerala by an agent initially to Thalassery for cattle rearing and then to Kochi. Anil worked in a bakery at Ayyappankavu. He had to clean up the place and sell sweets. Shobha too was employed at the house of the bakery owner.

The children toiled at the bakery for a paltry sum.

An anonymous letter sent to Childline freed them from labour. Childline activities and the police rescued the children and took them to their villages, said Antony Panikkarukunnel of Don Bosco that runs the Kochi Childline (telephone: 1098).

The parents were made to give undertakings in the court that they would take care of the children.

Kochi is home to many child labourers. The Childline activists narrated the case of Chinnathampi, 14, hailing from Salem. His employer in Paravur ill-treated him and even burned his hands. Chinnathampi ran away and narrated his plight to a traffic policeman. The policeman directed the boy to the local police station and then to Childline. Chinnathampi was soon reunited with his parents with the help of social activists. They also helped Chinnathampi claim his salary. As per figures available with the Childline, 66 child labourers were rescued from the city this year till September. The four girls rescued this year were aged between 6 and 11. Most of the boys were below 15. Childline rescued 167 child labourers in Kochi between 2003 and 2006 and 26 of them were girls.

The law that came into effect on Tuesday bans the employment of children below the age of 14 in hotels, restaurants, commercial establishments and households as domestic help. Employing children is now a punishable offence.

However, there is no system in place to ensure that the rescued children sent to their native places are not forced to work again. It is possible that agents and buyers of child labourers will force these children to work elsewhere. Earlier, the offenders could not be punished. Now that ban has been enforced, the scene may change, said Fr. Panikkarukunnel.

K.S. Sudhi

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