Parents of a 12-year-old child from Bengal who worked in Gujarat allege torture, file police complaint

Parents of a 12- year-old child who allegedly worked as a child labour at Rajkot in Gujarat have filed a police complaint against his employers at Kalna police station in West Bengal’s Bardhaman district, alleging severe torture during the child’s stay in Gujarat. Photos of videos of the child with severe injuries across his body have gone viral on social media.

According to parents and family members of the child who is undergoing treatment at Kalna State General Hospital, they had fallen on hard times and had sent the child to Rajkot in Gujarat to work at a factory making imitation jewellery about two years ago.

“He has injuries all over his body. We got Rs 3,500 when we sent him, after that there was no money,” the mother of the child told The Hindu. According to the mother, the employer sent the child back with another person and he arrived at Howrah Station on June 1. Doctors treating the child at the State run health facility said that the condition of the child was stable. An officer at the Kalna Police Station said that the police complaint was filed on June 3, where the parents alleged that the child was tortured in Bihar.

The Trinamool Cogress leadership accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of Gujarat of perpetuating child labour. “In PM @narendramodi‘s Double Engine state Gujarat, child labour is not only perpetuated but also accompanied by dehumanising treatment! .... a young child from Kalna, was forced to work in a jewellery factory in Gujarat, where he was brutally assaulted, resulting in severe injuries and lasting trauma,” the Trinamool Congress tweeted. Trinamool Congress leader Purba Bardhaman Swapan Debnath met the family of the child and expressed support to the family.

The West Bengal government claims that there are no instances of child labour in the state, though children from Odisha and Bihar have been rescued from brick kilns in the State. Several teenagers from West Bengal have also been rescued from jewellery making units of Tamil Nadu where they were working as “ bonded labours”.

Published - June 05, 2025 03:41 am IST