Under-aged girls working as Gadhamas in Gulf

KASARGOD: Gadhamas are working not just in the Gulf countries, they are here right in our midst. A large number of them are employed as domestic servants in the Gulf pockets of the district. These child labourers, mostly under-aged Hindu girls from Tamil Nadu work here camouflaged in Muslim dress.Geetha, 12, from Tamil Nadu is a typical Gadhama. A native of Thiruvallamala she is the daughter of Subramanyan and Sarojam. She was handed to a household in front of the Lalitha Kala Sadan here through an agent. “I have to work from early in the morning till 11 pm,” says Geetha. But she says that she is paid only Rs 15 per day excluding food.She comes out to the shops near the house covering her head. Nobody would suspect that she is a Hindu girl. “My employers insist that I should cover my head always,” she says. Geetha is working in the house for the past one year.This is not the single case of an under-aged girl working in the household. Many of them work here camouflaged in Muslim dress. They are employed in households mostly in Talangara, Nayanmarmoola, Chattamchal and Anangoor.  A squad consisting police, social workers, ChildLine workers are presently engaged in raiding shops, restaurants, factories and households. An agency had brought here about 30 girls, mostly from Muslim families in Ayyankeri in Coorg. Though the Crime Branch Police had conducted a probe to find out the girls, but no girls were found by the police. The police conducted the raid following the murder of Safiya, a 14-year-old girl from Ayyankeri, who was murdered in a residential quarters in Goa, owned by a family from Kasargod, four years ago.Anti-human trafficking nodal officer DIG S Sreejith had said that raids would be conducted from June 1 to 15 to locate child labourers. Even though 15 under-aged boys working in restaurants were detected here, no raid was so far conducted to locate the under-aged girls working as home maids.