Crackdown continues: 10 girls rescued from Tirupur mill

The girls were aged 14 to 18 and were natives of Tiruvannamalai, Dharmapuri and Cuddalore districts. Besides them, three young women aged above 18 were also rescued from the mill after they expressed unwillingness to work.

Acting on a tip-off, the rescue was made by a joint team comprising officials from childline, revenue, police, Child Protection Unit and Directorate of Industries Safety and Health on Monday night.

“The minors expressed unwillingness to work as they faced harassment from the mill management. The victims were subjected to a COVID-19 test before taking them out of the mill. They were all produced before officials of the Child Welfare Committee and sheltered in a home.

A decision is yet to be taken either to ask their parents to come and take them home or to send them by making transportation arrangements,” said Dinesh Babu, co-ordinator of Childline, Tirupur City.

Meanwhile, officials have begun a drive to crack down on mills employing minors and child labours by taking advantage of the COVID-19 crisis. “In the last two days alone, we have inspected around 50 mills. The same momentum will be maintained and more mills will be covered in the coming days,” he added.

Recently, around 40 minors were rescued from a mill in Avinashi and sent to their home towns by the district administration. In most of these instances, the employer had exploited their poor financial background and convinced their parents to send the minors for work through agents.