The Sangareddy police, along with the Labour Department and District Child Protection officers, rescued and sent home 72 individuals from the Dalit community, who were allegedly trafficked from Odisha to work at a brick kiln in Dargah Tanda village in Narayankhed, Sangareddy. Officials said that there were also allegations of employers at the kiln sexually assaulting the women and minor girls, while also underpaying and burdening them with work.
Ratnam Radva, the District Child Protection Officer of Sangareddy, said that they received complaints from the people working at SRB brick kiln, owned by Shankar. Sarpanch Gangaram, Ramesh and Parmeswar, also shared video testimonials from the place about poor conditions and illegal trafficking. “After we received the petition from the authorities, we raided the place. We spoke to the people running the place and found out that they had illegally employed people to work under extreme conditions. We engaged a vehicle and sent 72 individuals from the place to Secunderabad railway station, from where they headed back home to Balangir district of Odisha,” said the officer, adding that as per the allegation, the Narayankhed police has booked cases under the charges of child labour, sexual assault among other sections of the law.
It was mentioned in the complaint petition that children aged between 13 and 16 years and senior citizens aged between 62 and 70 years were trafficked, employed, sexually abused, and being held at the SRB brick kiln.
