New Delhi, May 18 (PTI) Nine children, including seven girls, were rescued from two meat processing units in the national capital where they were working as bonded labourers, a child rights body said Saturday.

An official of The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) said the rescue operation was carried out on Thursday in cooperation with the Delhi police.

The children were presented before the child welfare committee and they have been sent to a child care institution for now, he added.

"On Thursday, during an inspection conducted by the Slaughterhouse Monitoring Committee, led by Dr Ravindra Sharma, Veterinary Services Director, the units were found to be operating without several mandatory licenses and in abysmally filthy conditions," the official said.

"A large number of children were found working among the 300 or so butcher workforce of these factories. Nine minors were rescued. It was discovered that they were working as bonded labourers in an extremely hazardous and unsanitary conditions," he said.

The official said the units did not produce any record of the workers employed.

It is mandatory for any unit to have training and medical records of each worker employed, he added.

The police confirmed the incident and said they sent their force for the rescue operation but no arrests have been made till now .

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)