Thirteen children from the Baiga tribal community have been rescued from alleged bonded labor in cattle rearing units in Chhattisgarh’s Kaberdham district, and 10 people have been arrested, police said on Thursday.
The rescue operation was jointly carried out by Caperdam Police, Childline, Women and Child Development Department and the Association for Voluntary Action (AVA), an organization working in the field of children’s rights.
The children, aged between 8 and 15, were trafficked from remote forest villages nearly seven to eight months ago after their families were lured with promises of money and better living conditions, police said.
According to investigators, the children were forced to work more than 10 hours a day in livestock units located near the Kanha National Park area and were paid between $1000 and $2000 per month.
The AFP shared specific inputs after tracking the movement of the suspects for about two weeks, Dharmendra Singh, Superintendent of Police, Kaberdham, said in a statement. “As soon as we received information, teams were mobilized. The children were found to be living in highly exploitative conditions and forced to work. An FIR was registered and efforts are on to identify and arrest others associated with the network,” Singh’s statement said.
Officers said the rescue team initially found four children in a livestock facility. Based on information provided by the rescued minors, teams raided additional locations and rescued more children from four separate locations in the area.
The police relied on provisions relating to human trafficking, bonded labour, child labour, and the Juvenile Justice Act against the accused.
Manish Sharma, senior director of AVA, said children from vulnerable tribal communities are increasingly being targeted by trafficking networks.
“These networks exploit extreme poverty and isolation in tribal areas,” Sharma said. “Children as young as eight years old have been found working in dangerous conditions. The rapid response by the district police played a crucial role in rescuing the children.”
Officials said that all the rescued children have been transferred to childcare institutions and are being brought before the Child Welfare Committee for rehabilitation and further legal action.
