Two girls forced into child labour, rescued

Raikal: An incident of a money lender forcing a couple to mortgage their children and turning them into labourers came to light with the intervention of Raikal police in Karimnagar district on Thursday. A According to Raikal SI Koteshwar, a couple belonging to Yachapur in the district, Rathod Bapurao and Renuka, took a loan of Rs 50,000 from a blacksmith Narra Jahangir from Maithapur over six months ago. They said they would pay back the loan within three months. However, when they could not repay it, Jahangir forced them to keep their daughters Veena (14) and Uma (7) with him as security for his money. The couple reluctantly agreed and left their daughters with him. They told their daughters they would pay the loan soon and take them away from. Jahangir started employing them in his work for about three months. A couple of days ago, he took the children to Dawanpalli to do coolie work. Seeing the plight of the children, the villagers warned him against sending them to work. A worried Jahangir left the place and reached Odde Lingapur on Thursday. There, he again sent the children to coolie work. When the children related their sad story to other workers, the latter in turn informed the villagers. The village elders contacted Dawanpalli villagers and both decided to free the children from the clutches of Jahangir.They lodged a complaint with Raikal police who rescued the children and took Jahangir into custody.