The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Two child labourers freed

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Friday, Feb 22, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Two child labourers freed

J.S. Ifthekhar

Neighbour plays the Good Samaritan

Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

Relief at last: A girl child after being rescued by Labour Department officials. —

Hyderabad: In the end it took just an hour for her to walk to freedom. Four years of drudgery and toil was behind her – at last. No, she didn’t break into a jig. Instead tears welled up in her eyes and coursed down her cheeks.

Salma Tabassum didn’t care to look back at the house where she slogged day in and day out – washing, cleaning and scrubbing. All she bothered was her blue dress strung out to dry. Little Salma was not aware that the Good Samaritan who ensured her freedom was among the many persons peeping out of the Yaseen Towers in Noorkhan Bazar as she was rescued and led away by the Labour Department officials on Thursday.

High drama

The rescue of 13-year-old Salma of Bodhan was preceded by high drama. Alerted by a concerned neighbour, B. Ajay, Deputy Commissioner of Labour, descended on Yaseen Towers with media in tow. Salma started crying as two lady officers barged into flat 201-A and tried to rescue her. The officials were shocked to find the famished looking girl with a bandaged finger and a cut on her palm. There were loud protests by the family who claimed the child to be a close relative. M.S. Khan said she was his cousin and that she had come from Nizamabad two days ago. The terrified girl gave incoherent replies but kept silent when asked how she received the injury.

There was more confusion when the house-owner, Nemathullah Khan, walked in. A former Chairman of Wakf Board, Nizamabad, gave himself away by giving contradictory answers. He couldn’t recall the name of Salma’s father and started looking into a diary. When alerted by his son, he said the girl’s parents were Munawwar Ahmed and Raheema. But soon he forgot the names and started fumbling. An emboldened Salma later told the officials that she was brought to Hyderabad forcibly. Everyone in the house beat her and she was given only stale food.

Later, the officials raided another house in Vishwa Priya Apartments in Prashant Nagar, Malakpet, and rescued 13-year-old Revathi of Chittoor district. She was employed by a young couple, Charu Hasan and Krishnakumari. This girl was brought last month to look after an infant.

This rescue operation also had its share of excitement. As the couple got the wind of the impending raid, they sent away Revathi to an adjoining flat and locked it from outside. However, Mr. Ajay succeeded in getting the door opened. Both the employers were booked under Prohibition and Regulation Act, 1986. The police will initiate criminal proceedings. The rescued girls were admitted to the M.V. Foundation transit home at Chandrayangutta.

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