Tamil Nadu   

Five boys escape from Mumbai factory

Staff Reporter

They were spotted at Pallavaram by railway police

PHOTO: A. Muralitharan

BONDED LABOURERS: The five boys who were rescued by the Railway Protection Force police at Pallavaram on Thursday.

TAMBARAM : Five boys belonging to Villupuram district escaped from a bangle-making unit in Malad, Mumbai, where they have been employed as bonded labourers for the past five months. The boys, aged between 12 and 16, were spotted loitering around at the Pallavaram railway station by personnel of the Railway Protection Force on Wednesday night. The RPF personnel of Tambaram quizzed the boys, who, in turn, narrated their tale of woe. They were handed over to their relatives.

The boys were sold to one Saravanan by their parents for Rs. 3,000 in June this year. They then headed for Malad in Mumbai, where they have been working since then. Two days ago, Saravanan asked the boys to take care of the factory as he was going out. Seizing the opportunity, they fled from the shop, managed to find the way to the Malad railway station and took an electric train to Dadar station, the boys said. From there, they boarded the Dadar Express and reached the Central Station in Chennai without ticket. The boys — A. Thangam, 14, A. Arumugham, 14, S. Arulmani, 16, R. Sathish, 14, and R. Vijay, 12, — are all school dropouts.

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