Northeast boy, 10, forced to work like a dog at city home

A 10-year-old Manipuri boy, forced into domestic work by a family in Southeast Bengaluru's  Bellandur,  was rescued by a local resident who had found him lying unconscious with injuries to his head, back, and shoulders near Bangalore  Central Mall on the Outer Ring Road on October 28.

The resident took the boy to a female northeastern friend of his.  The woman reported the matter to Northeast Solidarity, an NGO.  The NGO's volunteers admitted him to a hospital in Vasanthnagar. The hospital, in turn, alerted the jurisdictional High Grounds police by filing a medico-legal case.

Preliminary inquiry revealed that the boy was beaten black and blue by  the family which had brought him to Bengaluru  last January by promising to send him to school. But it instead made him do domestic chores and didn't pay any wages for the work, Dr Rini Ralte, president, Northeast Solidarity,  told DH.

"The boy told us that he was beaten up and that the family made  him work from 5 am until midnight. He was asked to clean the house and do all other chores," Ralte said in her complaint to the police.

Suspecting it to be a clear case of child trafficking and child labour, Ralte has urged the police  to take appropriate action against the family.  The boy is reluctant to go back to them, DCP (Central)  Chandragupta said, adding that the case  had been transferred to the Bellandur police station for investigation.  

Noted Manipuri activist Irom Sharmila and her husband visited the boy at the hospital and interpreted his statements for the NGO's volunteers.  

DH News Service