The business owner who hails from Gujarat also assaulted and abused the children and adults working for him. Sixteen children and five adults have been rescued from two makeshift imitation jewellery units in Gujarat's Rajkot.
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Humanity was put on deathbed when an imitation jeweller in Rajkot was allegedly forcing children and adults to work for more than 10 hours a day. The business owner who hails from Gujarat also assaulted and abused the children and adults working for him. Sixteen children and five adults have been rescued from two makeshift imitation jewellery units in Gujarat's Rajkot.
As reported by PTI, the victims who were assaulted and forced to work are from West Bengal. It has also come to light that the unit's owner used to thrash the children if they failed to complete the work or refused to obey him, the police said on Sunday.
The accused, who has been identified as Ajitmaula Ajmatmaula, hails from West Bengal's Purba Bardhaman district. The police, while addressing the media, said that Ajitmaula Ajmatmaula had been arrested following the rescue operation in the early hours of June 6.
Furthermore, Ajmatmaula has been booked under sections 118 (assault) and 146 (unlawfully compulsory labour) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita as well as relevant provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, as per Assistant Commissioner of Police Bharat Basiya.
Medical reports confirmed that several of the rescued children were thrashed by the accused for failing to complete tasks as told, and on one occasion, an object was rammed into the rectum of one of them. However, taking the matter seriously, police have also booked the accused under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in the FIR.
"Based on a specific tip-off, a Rajkot police team raided a house on the Morbi Road during the early hours of Friday where 14 minors (boys) under the age of 18 and five adults aged 18 to 22 were found. They told the police that they were forced to work for over 10 hours a day to make imitation jewellery," said Basiya.
When asked about how the police caught hold of the accused, the official stated that “Ajmatmaula was nabbed from another place with two boys, who told police that they were beaten up by the accused.”
They added that a preliminary probe indicated that Ajmatmaula brought the victims to Rajkot in Gujarat from different parts of West Bengal with the permission of their parents.
"He used to pay Rs 8,000 per month to each of these minors and youth. Ajmatmaula used to thrash the children if they failed to complete the work or refused to obey him. All the 16 minors and five adults have been kept at a childcare home in the city under the supervision of officials," Basiya said.
(With PTI inputs)
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