13-year-old Ludhiana girl chokes to death as dupatta gets stuck in factory machine

Despite being a minor, she was working at the factory for the past two months

A 13-year-old girl died after her dupatta got stuck in a machine while working at a factory on Wednesday evening.

Despite being a minor, she was working at the factory for the past two months.

The deceased has been identified as Khushboo, a resident of Bhagat Singh Colony of Sherpur.

The Moti Nagar police on Thursday booked the factory owner, Vinod Gupta, and his son for causing death by negligence. However, no sections of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act were included in the FIR.

Manorama Devi, mother of the victim, told the police that Khushboo was working at the Rishi Enterprises Company, Phase 4. She alleged that the factory had no safety measures around the machineries, and yet her employer forced Khushboo to work on them.

She added that on September 2, when Khushboo was working in the factory, her dupatta got stuck in the machine, which choked her and she died on the spot.

ASI Meva Singh said the factory owner and his son had been booked Section 304-A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code.

He said the factory owners should have installed net or mesh around machines to avert such incidents. However, absence of safety measures caused the girl’s death.

On not booking them for child labour, the ASI said the girl was pushed into labour by her family to support them financially.

When contacted, additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP, City 4) Kuldeep Sharma, said they will add the Child Labour Act in the FIR and will investigate why it was not done in the first place.