Rautahat, January 1:

Of the five Nepali child workers rescued from an embroidery factory in New Delhi, four were handed over to their respective guardians today.

The children were having to work for 18 hours a day in the factory near Zakaria Masjid in New Delhi. At the initiation of Save Childhood, an NGO in India, the Delhi police, the local administration there and the labour ministry rescued the children after a raid on the factory on Wednesday after the guardians of the children filed a complaint.

Of the 50 children rescued, five were from Nepal, said field coordinator Ambika Sharan Mishra, adding that four of them are from Rautahat’s Rajpur Farahadawa and one is from Sarlahi Hajariya VDC.

Thirteen-year-old Khursid Alam, nine-year-old Jamshed Alam, 11-year-old Ismail Alam, 14-year-old Asfar Khan of Rajpur Farahadawa VDC and 15-year-old Saddam Hussain of Sarlahi Hajariya VDC were handed over to the Rautahat district police office today. Four were handed over to their guardians, said police inspector Nareshraj Subedi.

According to Mishra, Sikandar Hyat Khan of Sitamarhi’s Mehsul Chowk in Bihar took these kids to India assuring them of IRs 2,000 as monthly salary along with education facilities. But they ended up working for IRs 15 a week, Mishra added. Nine-year-old Jamshed after returning to Nepal told this daily, “We had to work from 10 am till 2 am, failing which we were subjected to beatings.” The kids also said they were not allowed to go out of the factory and were unable to have food when they were hungry.