Child labour: 2 minor Darjeeling girls rescued from parlour in Hyderbad

SILIGURI: Two minors of the Darjeeling Hills, who were made to work forcibly without pay, were rescued from a beauty parlour and spa in Hyderabad.

On March 1, a couple from a Hill tea garden lodged a complaint with the Anugalaya Darjeeling Diocese Social Service centre that their daughter aged 16 years was being forcefully made to work without any pay in a salon in Hyderabad.

"The family members told us that this girl was a Class 8 dropout and that she was undergoing beautician training in Darjeeling. During the training, she had met Kaynat Hussain and Faizal, who were owners of a beauty parlor and spa in Hyderabad. They had promised her a lucrative job at the beauty parlour. As the girl's family was from the low income group, they had readily agreed to the proposal," stated Tej Kumar Thapa, Child Protection Officer, Anugalaya.

The duo from Hyderabad then made the family sign an agreement on a non judicial stamp paper.

The girl was then taken to Hyderabad in September 2020. In February, the girl managed to call her parents and told them that she was being made to do household chores and was not being paid despite 5 months having passed.

When her parents asked them to send the girl home, the employers told them that they would have to pay a lakh rupees.

Thapa contacted Red Alert, an NGO in Hyderabad. An FIR was lodged with the local police. A raid was conducted by a police. The girl along with another 17-yearold girl from Hills were rescued.

The rescue of the two minors of the Darjeeling Hills from a beauty parlour and Spa in Hyderabad has exposed the vulnerability of children from the low income bracket families to human trafficking.