New Delhi:
Two factory owners have been denied anticipatory bail by a special court as 33 child labourers were allegedly rescued from their premises.
The court said that the aspect of human trafficking needs to be probed in this case as it is a "serious" matter.
The resuced kids were forced to work from dawn to dusk without any respite.
Special Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal denied the relief to the two accused in separate cases of child labour and bonded labour, saying it has to be found out as to how and from whom the factory owners had allegedly recruited such a large number of child victims.
The court dismissed the anticipatory bail pleas of Deepak Sahni and Rohit Sahni, from whose petroleum jelly factories 20 and 13 child labourers respectively were allegedly rescued by an NGO.
"No doubt the statements of all the child victims, who were rescued from the factories of the applicants have been recorded, but considering the fact that 20 and 13 of the minor children were kept in the factory of the accused/applicants (Deepak and Rohit) who were all forced to do child labour, is a matter of serious concern, where they were forced to work from dawn to dusk without any sort of respite," it said.
Rejecting the contention of the accused that factory owners in other such matters have already been granted bail, the court said the cases of Deepak and Rohit are different from others as in those matters, the factory owners were released almost after spending 15 days in custody.
"Whereas in this case, the true implications of the human trafficking involved in the present case is to be worked out, that is to find out as to how and from whom the applicants had recruited such large number of child victims in the factories," it said.
The court said that it appeared that the cops have "already favoured" Deepak and Rohit as despite rescuing of 20 and 13 children respectively from their factory, they were still roaming at large and that the police authorities have been "too kind" to them.
