Kawardha, May 7: Thirteen children belonging to the Baiga tribe, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group, have been rescued from bonded labour in Chhattisgarh’s Kabirdham district, police said on Thursday.
Eight persons, including two alleged traffickers and six employers, were arrested during the rescue operation carried out on Wednesday, they said.
The accused allegedly lured parents of minor children from the Baiga community at Thuhapani village in Bhoramdeo area with money and took them to several villages in the district for forced labour, Kabirdham Superintendent of Police Dharmendra Singh Chhavai told PTI.
“After we received the tip-off, we launched the operation. Thirteen children aged between 8 and 15 years, who were forced into bonded labour, were rescued from different villages. An FIR has been registered and eight persons, including two traffickers and six employers, have been arrested so far,” he said.
The rescued children told authorities that six to seven months ago, one of the accused, Ravi Yadav, persuaded their parents with promises of money and took them to different locations where they were made to graze cattle and care for livestock, another police official said.
The children worked from 6 am to 9 am and again from noon to 7 pm every day. Their parents were allegedly paid between Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000 per month, while the children themselves received no wages, he said.
Seven of the arrested persons have been identified as Ravi Yadav, Ramu Yadav, Badhi Yadav, Kanhaiya Yadav, Ramphal Yadav, Ram Bihari Yadav and Rupesh Yadav, the police said.
A case has been registered at Bhoramdeo police station under provisions related to human trafficking, bonded labour, child labour and the Juvenile Justice Act, and further investigation is underway, they said.
“The rescue highlights the growing vulnerability of children from marginalised tribal communities to trafficking networks. These networks prey on extreme poverty and lure families with small amounts of cash and false promises,” said Manish Sharma, senior director of the Association for Voluntary Action, an NGO working for child protection.
He also praised the prompt response of the police after the NGO alerted them about child labour. (PTI)
