Jaipur (Rajasthan): A couple in Jaipur has been booked for allegedly forcing a 12-year-old boy into child labour, with the husband also being charged with raping the child, police said on Wednesday. While the woman has been arrested, the man is absconding. "A 12-year-boy tortured by a married couple with the husband raping him in the absence of wife, as told by the child, who later fled the house, is with an NGO now. Accused on the run, wife arrested under child labour, POCSO, another section," SHO Shastri Nagar, Dileep Singh said.
The man had also branded the boy's foot with a hot knife so that he did not escape, police said. The SHO said the couple had brought the boy from Bihar to Jaipur about six to seven months ago. Recently, the boy somehow managed to drag himself to the roof of the house where he was kept, and jumped across to a neighbour's house.
"The boy requested the neighbours to save him after sharing his ordeal with them, who in turn, contacted the child helpline," the officer said. Suman Singh, a member of the child helpline that rescued the boy said that on March 21, she received the information that a 12-year-old child was held hostage in a house in the Shastri Nagar police station area. The couple was beating the child so much that he was unable to walk and could not even stand on his feet, Suman said.
She said the accused, identified as Mohammad Riyaz and Roohi Parveen, brought the child from Darbhanga district of Bihar to Jaipur about seven months ago for bangle-making work. Afterwards, they locked him up in the house and forced him to work. He was not allowed to leave the house and was under constant surveillance, Suman alleged. She further said that the couple used to beat the child in case his work output was lesser.
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He was forced to make bangles from 4 am to 1 am (the next morning). He did not even see sunlight for months. There were scratch marks on his throat, child helpline counsellor Shanti Berwal said. The 12-year-old was sent to hospital where he was given primary treatment after which he was handed over to child welfare committee. On the direction of the committee, he was sent to a shelter home, the SHO said. A case has been registered against the accused couple under Juvenile Justice Act, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and the Indian Penal Code, the officer added.
(With inputs from agencies)
