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One of the nine children of a migrant rickshaw-puller, the boy’s story is poignant.
According to the NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan, the boy’s father died three years ago and his mother, a labourer, had to stop working due to ill health.
“To support the family, his elder brother started working as a waiter in a restaurant. However, his Rs 5,000 salary was not enough, therefore his siblings started working as rag pickers. Satish used to go to school, but one day the teacher blamed him for stealing and he stopped going to school,” an NGO official said.
“After that, he also started working as a rag picker and got into the habit of consuming leftover dregs from the liquor bottles. He also started sniffing correction fluid with his friends. As time went by, he became addicted,” the official said.
“The family thought that they had no other option but to tie him up with chains. He has been in chains since a year.”
On hearing about Satish, the NGO wrote to the Child Welfare Committee (CWG), whose chairman Mamta Sahai informed the police.
The boy has been sent for a medical check-up. The CWC has also ordered the child to be sent to the Apna Ghar shelter home in Delhi after all the medical and other formalities were completed.