31 October 2007, New Delhi: The Chief Justice MK Sarma of the Delhi High Court taking a strong stance on the order of the Sub-divisional Magistrate (SDM) and the appeal by Mr. Satyarthi, the Honourable Chief Justice ordered that the children will remain in protective custody of BBA and fresh investigations would be initiated. He further rebuked the defensive stance of the public council and expressed his anguish over the corruption and connivance of the authorities in playing with the lives of the children. This is a remarkable victory in the fight to uphold the rights of the children.

This high-voltage drama unfolded when at 09.45 pm Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Children Movement) received a copy of the order from the Sub-divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Hauz Khas reading “The NGO has contended that the children are bonded labourers but, I find that the only thing important at this stage is, that they are children, not under the protective custody of their parents and thus, are neglected children.”

This is in complete disregard to the testimonials of the 14 child labourers rescued by BBA on 29 October 2007 that they were working under conditions of slavery.

After the news of child labourers working in embroidery industry was uncovered in the Sunday Observer on 28 October 2007, BBA activists swung into action. The GAP Inc. in a statement accepted that the child labourers were working in production of GAP Kids blouses and has already made a statement to pull the products from the shelf.

In spite of the documentation of the child labourers working in the high-street fashion and admission by all concerned parties, only the SDM could not recognise these children as working under conditions of slavery and bondage.

Distraught and desperate that this collusions by the custodians of justice, founder of BBA Kailash Satyarthi, Chairperson of Global March Against Child Labour appealed to the Honourable Chief Justice of Delhi High Court through a letter at 11.00 pm.

This order by the Honourable Chief Justice comes when the government is taking an extremely retrogressive stance on the issue of child labour in sweatshops in India and threatening ‘retaliatory measures’ against child rights organisations.

In a parallel development, Global March Against Child Labour and BBA are in dialogue with the GAP Inc. and other stakeholders to work out a positive strategy to prevent the entry of child labour in to sweatshops and device a mechanism of monitoring and remedial action.  GAP Inc. Senior Vice President, Dan Henkle in a statement said: “We have been making steady progress, and the children are now under the care of the local government.  As our policy requires, the vendor with which our order was originally placed will be required to provide the children with access to schooling and job training, pay them an ongoing wage and guarantee them jobs as soon as they reach the legal working age. We will now work with the local government and with Global March to ensure that our vendor fulfils these obligations.”