Seven minor boys, including 4 from Nepal, rescued from restaurant; owner booked

The boys, aged between 14 and 17 years, were working at Royal Restaurant and Banquet, adjacent to Sardar Patel Ring Road, as cleaners and waiters, police said.

SEVEN MINOR boys, including four from Nepal, employed at a restaurant in Odhav area of Ahmedabad were rescued Saturday in a joint operation by the police and NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA).

The boys, aged between 14 and 17 years, were working at Royal Restaurant and Banquet, adjacent to Sardar Patel Ring Road, as cleaners and waiters, police said.

Damini Patel, the state coordinator for BBA who led the operation, said, “We had received a tip that the restaurant had employed underaged boys as labourers and subsequently, with the help of the police, we conducted a raid Saturday evening. The seven minors, aged between 14 and 17 years, were employed to clean dishes and the premises, and serve as waiters since the last one year. They were paid Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,000 as salary and made to work in two shifts (11 am to 4 pm, and 6 pm to 11 pm) at the restaurant.”

Of the seven boys, Patel said, four were natives of Nepal, while two were from Rajasthan and one from Jharkhand. “As of now, we have brought the minors to a children’s shelter home in Ahmedabad’s Bavla taluka. Their parents are being traced,” Patel added.

The owner of the restaurant, Aabid Ali, has been booked by Odhav Police under Indian Penal Code section 374 for unlawful compulsory labour and sections of the Juvenile Justice Act. Ali has not been arrested yet, police said.

Police are also probing possible human trafficking links in the case.

“The boys from Nepal said they belong to Dailekh area of the country and were brought to Ahmedabad almost a year ago by an acquaintance,” Patel said.

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