76% of rescued child labourers went back to work: Study

Mumbai: Over 76 per cent of child labourers rescued in raids conducted six years ago in Mumbai went back to work, according to an NGO working for children's rights.

The fact was highlighted in a study commissioned by CRY in Mumbai with research partner CARE.

A child being rescued after a raid in 2012. Pic/ Vijay Bate

The study, 'Developing a New Perspective on Child Labour Exploring the aftermath of the Mumbai raids conducted from 2008 onwards', was aimed at exploring what happened to children who were rescued during the raids conducted in 2008, after the rescue and rehabilitation process.

Before the children were rescued, 83.53 per cent worked for more than 10 hours and nearly half of the children were treated badly by employers, a CRY release said.

Almost 25 per cent of the children were released by the police to the parents or other persons related to them from the police station itself.

No FIRs were filed for these children who never came into the system post the rescue and these children were never presented before the child welfare committee (CWC), it said.

Altogether 76.47 per cent children were found to be working full time post rescue process, whereas 18.82 per cent combined work and education.

Only 4 out of 85 children were found not working, it said.

Top three sectors where children were found working before as well as post rescue are hotels, leather factories and zari workshops.
In all, 77 FIRs were filed against 366 establishments, it said.

There are 10.1 million child labourers in India (between the ages 5-14), one of the highest numbers in the world, CRY said. Maharashtra has 7.2 lakh children working.

The 2011 census says the number of working children between 5-9 years has increased by 22 per cent, it said.