annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Karnataka
identified 7,000 children employed in
hazardous and 32,000 children in nonhazardous
industries. 34
The NGOs put the figure much higher.
Child labour is particularly the most serious
in Davangere district. There are more than
600 puffed rice factories in the district
which employ one child labourer on an
average. As none of them are officially
registered as industries, the children
working in these factories are treated as
labourers engaged in domestic sector. The
Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation)
Act of 1986, which bars employing of
children in hazardous sectors, does not
prescribe any punishment for employing of
child labourers in domestic sector. Many
child labourers lose their lives. Among the
22 cases of children’s death which have
come to the notice of Campaign Against
Child Labour-Karnataka (CACL-K) since
1997, only in three cases conviction had
taken place. Six cases were settled for
paltry compensation, while seven cases
were still pending. Two cases were under
investigation by Criminal Investigation
124
Department. 35
On 8 January 2004, Venkatesh, a
witness in the Hangarahalli bonded labour
case in Mandya who testified before the
District Additional and Sessions Judge H P
Sandesh, alleged that their legs were
chained, and they were forced to clean the
excreta without wearing clothes. Venkatesh
also alleged that the mine owners had
threatened them to say that they were tied
for a cinema shooting. The mine labourers
Krishna and Venkatachala were questioned
on 6 January 2004, when the trial of the
case began in Mandya. They reportedly
identified the photos and chains. 36
Taahir Ali, a 13-year-old child
labourer, died on the night of 11
December 2004 after he fell into a
cauldron and sustained burn injuries
while working in a puffed rice factory in
Davangere on 6 December 2004. In his
dying declaration, Taahir stated that he
got injured while working in a factory
owned by one named Sharifulla, who
fled. The boy’s parents did not file any
case against the employer. 37
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