RAJKOT: As many as 18 persons, all natives of West Bengal, were booked on Wednesday by the Rajkot city A-Division police in connection with the
child labour racket busted last month in the city.
Police booked Sanjay Dolai and 17 others under various sections of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act and Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act.
The ugly side of Rajkot’s famed imitation jewellery business was exposed last month with the rescue of 27 children, all between 8-14 years, who were forced to work in inhuman conditions with miserly remuneration.
The racket of bringing all children from West Bengal came to light after two of them escaped from the house of
Sikandar Sheikh and his wife
Pakeezah in Rajaram Society on
Sant Kabir Road.
The kids, who ran away to Junagadh, were allegedly beaten up regularly by Pakeezah and also kept hungry for days. Both children were rescued at
Junagadh by the government railway police (GRP) who then informed local child welfare committee.
Both Sikandar and Pakeezah were arrested after the child welfare committee chief Ramila Kathiriya lodged an FIR against the couple. Sikandar and Pakeezah are natives of West Bengal but have been living in Rajkot and doing jobwork for imitation jewellery units.
Based on information revealed by the couple, police and social empowerment department officials raided their house as well as other imitation jewellery workshops and rescued 25 children.
Rajkot is a hub for imitation jewellery, a largely unorganized industry, in India with annual turnover of over Rs 1,000 crore. According to industry sources, there are more than 1,000 imitation jewellery units in the city which employ close to 2.5 lakh people direct or indirectly.
Representative image
