Dibrugarh: In an operation coinciding with the World Day Against Child Labour, a district-level task force rescued two child labourers from a car wash centre on AT Road in Sivasagar town on Friday.The two children, aged 12 and 13, had been employed at the car wash centre and deprived of education. The rescue operation was conducted by a multi-departmental task force comprising officials from various wings of the Sivasagar district administration.Following the rescue, the statements of both children were recorded before the child welfare committee, after which they were placed under the custody of their parents. The labour inspector of the Sivasagar district labour department filed a case against the owners of the establishment at the local police station for employing child labour. However, no arrest was made so far.The rescue was part of the task force’s ongoing drive to identify and free child labourers across the district.“These two children were made to work at a car wash centre when they should have been in school. The owners were fully aware that employing children under 14 is illegal, yet they chose to do so. A case has been filed and action will follow. We will continue our drives across the district, and any establishment found employing child labourers will face legal action without exception,” an official said.Under the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, employing children below the age of 14 in any form of labour is prohibited and punishable by law. Despite this, children across the country continue to be found working in brick kilns, tea gardens, hotels, domestic households, and farms.The Sivasagar district administration has urged community members, teachers, and neighbours to report cases of child labour so that more children can be rescued and restored to their families and schools.
Officials during a rescue operation
