The Bengaluru police have booked a jeweller for allegedly employing two minor girls as domestic workers in his home after a tip-off from Income Tax department officials who recently raided the residence in Yediyur.
The police rescued the girls, aged 10 and 8, who hailed from Gaya in Bihar. The jeweller’s son brought them to the house from Mysore, where their parents worked, to look after his ailing mother, the police said.
The police said I-T officials tipped them off after a raid at the jeweller’s house as part of a larger search of several jewellers in south Bengaluru for alleged tax evasion. They told the police that the two girls were being used to carry out domestic chores and look after the unwell wife of the jeweller.
The Jayanagar police registered a suo motu case against the jeweller, Ashok Kumar Chand, 51, and his sons — Shreyans Chowdhare, 27, and Gaurav Chowdhare, 25.
The police booked them for exploitation of a child employee under Section 79 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, which warrants imprisonment up to five years in prison, and for child labour under the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, which warrants imprisonment between three months to a year.
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