CHENNAI: Despite government officials establishing a case of bonded child labour and trafficking, the police are yet to file a case against actor Mumtaj even more than 780 days after the rescue of two girls from her house.
An inquiry with officials in labour, revenue, and police departments privy to the two-year-old case revealed that the law enforcing agencies were callous in probing the case despite a labour department official submitting a report that established that this was a case of bonded labour and pointed out to the “elements of trafficking” based on the inquiry and the submission given by one of the victims.
“The girls, 17 and 19 years old, were from Uttar Pradesh. After getting an advance amount, the girls’ parents sent them to work in the actor’s house. They have been working in the house from the age of 13 and 15 years respectively. They were not allowed to step out of the house,” said a source quoting Assistant Commissioner of Labour (ACL) A Jayalakshmi’s report. The source stated that it was “shocking how the police and line departments were functioning in such sensitive cases” disregarding the report of labour department official, who was then the nodal officer of the Chennai District Child Labour Task Force.
The police said that the revenue officials periodically ask for reports, but never insisted on filing a case. “Since there was no communication from revenue officials to file a case, no FIR has been filed to date. We will forward the complaint to the law and order wing to pursue it once they insist on filing an FIR and conducting a detailed inquiry,” said a police official. However, the police official statement contradicted the department’s reply to an RTI petition that there was “no prima facie” to file First Information Report (FIR) against the actor.
A source in Chennai district administration said that the probe by the Revenue Divisional Officer is still going on. A former member of CWC Lalithaa filed a complaint with the police following the reports from ACL, but nothing happened till now.
The issue came to light on May 10, 2022, when the 19-year-old girl managed to reach Anna Nagar Park and sought help. The police personnel reached the spot and conducted an inquiry. Following that, the police rescued her younger sister.