15 minor girls brought for factory work freed

15 minor girls brought for factory work freed
TNN, 10 February 2010,
BANGALORE: Fifteen minor girls from Andhra Pradesh who were brought to Bangalore to work in a garment factory at Nayandanahalli, were rescued at the City Railway Station on Tuesday.

Railway authorities, who saw the group of anxious girls from Srikakulam district in AP, alerted the police and child helpline. Preliminary inquiry revealed they were bought and then brought for work.

BOSCO child helpline coordinator Gnana Prakash said: “Off the 15 girls, three are above 18 years and were working at a garment factory. They were paid by the employer to get more girls. So they brought the minors from their hometown Srikakulam. Such incidents are regular in garment factories but are left unchecked by the authorities.”

A security personnel from the garment factory was waiting at the railway station with a vehicle to take these girls to the factory. However, timely action from the railway authorities saved them.

The girls are at the government girls home now. The child helpline has registered a case of trafficking with the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights