The Anti Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police have apprehended the 50-year-old manager of an industrial unit on charges of employing minor boys at the establishment in Bhayandar (east).
Acting on a tip-off, in context to the employment of the youngsters, the AHTU team led by Police Inspector-Sameer Ahirao swooped down on the premises of the steel utensil manufacturing unit located in the Udyog Industrial Area of Bhayandar.
Three children aged below 16 years were found to be working on electrically-operated metal press, cutters and furnaces. The manager of the factory who was identified as-Kisankumar Yamuna Shankar Yadav (50) admitted that the unskilled child workers were deployed owing to cheap daily wages as compared to trained technicians. Apart from slapping the amended sections of the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, a case under the relevant sections of the stringent Juvenile Justice Act and section 374 of the IPC for unlawfully compelling any person to labour against will, has been registered against the manager and owner of the establishment.
However, the owner is still at large. The rescued boys who are natives of Uttar-Pradesh have been moved to the children’s welfare home until they are reunited with their families, police said. Further investigations were on.
