While patroling the streets of Tirunelveli, the team members at CHILDLINE noticed 3 young boys- Nitin,
Manjunath and Atif, roaming the streets.
The team members convinced the children to accompany them to the CHILDLINE Centre in order to put them through counseling and make sense of their situation. What they learnt was that the children had run away from their hometown in Tirupathur and come to Tirunelveli in search of a livelihood. All the 3 boys, below the age of 14 years has landed a job at the Chennai Sweet Bakery and suffered due to long hours of work and a meager salary. In turn, the boys decided to run away from the bakery as they could not handle the circumstances.
The Police department and Department of Labour were notifyed in order to seek action. CHILDLINE Tirunelveli assisted them in the resue operation to find yet another child labourer at the Bakery. All the 4 children were taken before the CWC who directed them to a temporary shelter home- Saranalayam.
After collecting details of their whereabouts, the children were repatriated with their parents who were advised to enroll them in a school. An FIR was filed against the Bakery owner under the relevant Indian Penal Code and Child Labour Prevention Act Sessions. CHILDLINE is following up the case.
