The 17-year-old son of a purse manufacturer, who had come from Bihar for treatment in Mumbai, and his 12-year-old cousin were “rescued” from his father’s shop by the Agripada police who alleged that the two were child labourers.
The two minors were reportedly having breakfast in the purse manufacturing unit near Byculla railway station when the cops raided it at 11.30 am on Friday. “The unit employees and my elder brother kept pleading with the police that the children were not working but the cops refused to listen to us,” said the purse manufacturer’s brother.
This was not enough. While the “rescued” children were sent to Dongri juvenile remand home, their father was arrested on charges of “employing minors at his workplace”.
He said his son, the 12-year-old, studies and stays at Darul Uloom Mohammedia at NM Joshi Marg and was brought to the purse shop as he was not keeping well recently. His 17-year-old nephew lives with his mother in the Madhubani district in Bihar and was being treated at JJ Hospital, he added. He alleged that more boys were “rescued” by the police on Friday who were later released after their employers paid the police.
Sub-inspector Santosh Nawalgi who is probing the case, said, “When we raided the unit, the children were working. The father could not bring any proof of his relationship with the children. The family brought proof but it was too late, by then the court had sent the children and father to remand home.”