Delhi boy chained, forced to work at tea stall

Employer says teenager had stolen from him

For a week, 16-year-old Jameel Akhtar was in chains. The teenager, working at a tea stall near Zakir Husain College in central Delhi, had been allegedly chained and his legs tied together by his employer, who accused the boy of stealing.

But even while being in chains, Jameel had no respite from work.

Though the chains and the lock didn't allow him to move very far away, Jameel used to make tea and even serve customers.

Ironically, none of the customers, protested.

Sarfaraz Ahmed, the employer, alleged Jameel had stolen money and jewellery from his house. He had filed a complaint at the Kamla Market police station on December 12. 'Sarfaraz has falsely implicated my son Jameel Akhtar in a theft case in order to exploit him as a bonded child labour and also extort money from me,' said Mohammed Sohrab, Jameel's father.

Meanwhile, Sarfaraz denied Sohrab's charges. 'I never tied him (Jameel). In fact he had fled after stealing from my house. We caught him on December 29 from Lal Kuan. We were waiting for his father to come and return my money,' said Sarfaraz.

Jameel was rescued on Thursday afternoon after an NGO along with the Sub-divisional Magistrate raided the tea stall.