TNN | Jun 1, 2015, 08.09 AM IST

SURAT: Five child labourers staged a dramatic escape from their sari folding unit in Punagam and helped police rescue their four other friends on Saturday. 

Kapodra police station staff were surprised after five children approached them and begged to save their other friends. They had escaped while going to toilet and straight reached Kapodra police station. The children told police that their friends were in a pitiable condition and requested cops to rescue and send them back to their homes in Rajasthan. 

Police immediately rushed to Muktidham Society near Archana School in Punagam and found four other children in age group of 8 years to 12 years. 

The children were taken to Puna police station and a case was registered against their employers — Nemisingh Rajput and Suresh Bherulal Kharadi — both resident of Muktidham Society. The accused have been booked under Indian Penal Code section 374 – unlawful compulsory labour and Juvenile Care and Protection Justice Act. After registering their statements, the children were sent to a protection home by the officials of social justice department. Police arrested both the accused on Sunday. 

"The children were very weak. They told us that they the employers thrashed them to get work done. They escaped from the unit after several months of torture and reached police station," said Sita Parmar, a counsellor at Childline, Surat. 

The children were not allowed to go out from the house ever since they were brought from Rajasthan by the accused persons soon after Diwali last year. They were forced to work for over 12 hours without proper food, police said.