Police across Karnataka conducted a coordinated statewide operation on September 12 that rescued nearly 800 children working in shops, hotels, garages, warehouses, and other commercial establishments. Teams inspected nearly 17,000 premises across 38 police units in one of the state’s largest child labour enforcement drives in recent years. The action followed a directive from Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who ordered police to act after personally encountering working children during a visit to the APMC yard in Bengaluru.
Bengaluru city accounted for over 500 of the rescues after city police fanned out across twelve divisions to check nearly 6,000 establishments. Additional children were recovered in districts including Vijayapura, Kalaburagi, Tumakuru, Mysuru, and Hubballi-Dharwad. Officers registered first information reports against employers in multiple cases and issued notices under the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act.
Several dozen rescued children were handed over to district Child Welfare Committees for counselling, medical checks, and eventual reintegration with their families or into schooling. While labour rights advocates welcomed the crackdown, they cautioned that sustained monitoring, family income support, and follow-up are needed to ensure the practice ends and children return to school. The state government has not yet stated whether the drive will be repeated periodically or expanded to rural taluks.