Trafficked And Trapped: The Exploitation Of Child Domestic Workers

As one dials a placement agency in Delhi in search of domestic help, a voice, smooth and practiced, rises through the static. ‘Kab chahiye?,’ (When do you want it?) they ask. Enquiring about the age of the worker draws a dismissive reply, ‘Age ka kya karoge sir? Kaam accha hoga…mehnati ladkiyan hain’ (What will you do with their age sir? The work will be good…they are hard-working girls). Many such ‘mehnati ladkiyan’ work for over 13 hours a day, that too, without wages. 

Chumki (name changed for anonymity) was one of the minors rescued during a recent raid at a placement agency. After the raid, she told the Mission Mukti Foundation, an NGO which aided in her rescue that she had not received any money for over a year. “I told the owner that I want to go home and they threatened to beat me up if I did not comply and go to work,” she said. 

A Web of Exploitation

Dozens of minor girls, especially from poverty stricken areas of Jharkhand and West Bengal are lured to metropolitans like Delhi with promises of decent money and affable working conditions. As the middle man, who is usually someone from their village, takes the girls to the designated placement agency, a commission of Rs 20,000 for each girl, as per the market standards is given to them by these agencies. 

According to recent Delhi police data accessed by The Times of India, Delhi has witnessed a spike in child labour cases in 2025, with a 51 percent increase in rescues compared to the same time frame in 2024. 202 children have been rescued between January 1 and May 31 this year marking a significant rise from the 134 minors rescued during the same time period last year. 

Virender Kumar Singh, Director of the Mission Mukti Foundation claims to have rescued over 30 girls in the last two months alone. Employment in households forms a major chunk of the work they do, he says. “These agencies charge a commission of around Rs 30,000 to 50,000 for a contract of 11 months. The girl’s salary is not included in this. The agency demands the salary of the girl be credited to its account. This is how they are exploited,” he asserts. 

Singh adds that their agents go to these rural areas and brainwash the minors and their parents. “They travel in such a way to make it seem like a family. They tell the girls to not disclose that they are going to the cities for work but instead say something like they are going for a trip,” he says. 

Shakarpur, an area in the Northeast of Delhi, is known for housing several such agencies. According to the Mukti Foundation’s data, there are over 1000 such agencies in the Shakarpur area alone.

Rescue and Rehabilitation 

Recent cases have revealed that the majority of victims lack proper documentation, making them more vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking. Despite these systemic shortcomings, mechanisms such as the Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) play a crucial role in enhancing the efficiency of rehabilitation and post-rescue processes. 

Deeba Naseem, Chairman and member of the CWC says that, “Once the rescue is done and the SDM passes the order to file an FIR, the rescued children are produced before the child welfare committee because these children are in need of care and protection under Sub-section 2 of section 14 of the JJ Act.” 

“Our role is to provide safe shelter and to get the social investigation report done. It generally happens that the child is from Bihar or Jharkhand. In that case, the SIR is conducted from the district child protection unit from where the child is,” she adds.  

The labour officer calculates the due wages as per the government norms. The CWC then helps the children open their bank accounts so that they get the amount due to them. 

Rescue or Racket? 

Virender notes that during recent raids, they discovered that certain NGOs were collaborating with these placement agencies. “During a raid on July 21, we encountered a man named Umesh, who claimed to be the vice president of a Child Care NGO. These NGOs often intervene after we rescue minors, they approach the police, mediate settlements, and then take custody of both the girls and the accused,” he explains.

While the intensified rescue operations give hope, systemic failures and the presence of dummy NGOs suggest a deeper, more intractable problem that urgently needs reform, regulation, and community vigilance.