Rajkot, Jun 9 (PTI) Sixteen children and five adults have been rescued from two makeshift intimation jewellery units in Gujarat’s Rajkot where they were allegedly forced to work more than 10 hours a day and assaulted and abused by the owner, police said.

The victims hail from West Bengal. The units owner used to thrash the children if they failed to complete the work or refused to obey him, the police said on Sunday.

The accused, identified as Ajitmaula Ajmatmaula, who hails from West Bengal’s Purba Bardhaman district, was arrested following the rescue operation in the early hours of June 6, they said.

Ajmatmaula was booked under sections 118 (assault) and 146 (unlawfully compulsory labour) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita as well as relevant provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, Assistant Commissioner of Police Bharat Basiya said.

After medical reporters confirmed that some of the rescued boys were thrashed by the accused for not doing work as instructed, and in one instance, an object was shoved into the rectum of one of them, police invoked provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in the FIR.

“Based on a specific tip-off, a Rajkot police team raided a house on the Morbi Road during early the hours of Friday where 14 minors (boys) under the age of 18 and five adults aged 18 to 22 were found. They told the police that they were forced to work for over 10 hours a day to make imitation jewellery,” said Basiya.

Ajmatmaula was nabbed from another place with two boys, who told police that they were beaten up by the accused, the official said.

A preliminary probe indicated that Ajmatmaula brought the victims to Rajkot in Gujarat from different parts of West Bengal with the permission of their parents.

“He used to pay Rs 8,000 per month to each of these minors and youth. Ajmatmaula used to thrash the children if they failed to complete the work or refused to obey him. All the 16 minors and five adults have been kept at a childcare home in the city under the supervision of officials,” Basiya said. PTI COR PJT NSK GK