Police say they have rescued some 400 children in a series of raids on leather tanning and plastic factories in Hyderabad over the past 10 days.
The children, mainly boys, hail from India's Bihar, Uttar Pradesh & West Bengal states, & have today been returned to their hometowns on special trains.
Police say they found the children working long hours in deplorable conditions, despite a nationwide ban on child labour.
The children, mainly boys, hail from India's Bihar, Uttar Pradesh & West Bengal states, & have today been returned to their hometowns on special trains.
Police say they found the children working long hours in deplorable conditions, despite a nationwide ban on child labour.
'We found the children confined to their work place in inhuman conditions,' said V. Satyanarayana, a top police official in Hyderabad.
'They were forced to work for nearly 12 hours a day without any respite.'
'Many of the children were suffering from skin & other diseases as they were forced to work in unhygienic & unventilated dark rooms,' Satyanarayana said.
He said their employers would monitor them with video cameras & any child who stopped working would be beaten.
Police in Hyderabad have arrested 5 men accused of supplying children to the factory owners.
India has laws aimed at fighting child labour by making education compulsory up to age 14 & prohibiting their employment in hazardous occupations.
Despite the laws, grinding poverty still causes many children to be pushed into work, with factory agents promising their wages to their parents.
The 2011 census found that about 4.35 Million children between the ages of 5 & 14 were employed across India.
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