A case has been registered against two persons for allegedly forcing an 11-year-old tribal boy into bonded labour in Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Tuesday.
As per the police complaint, the boy's father had allegedly forced him to work for a cattle farmer for ₹2,000 per month, an official from Shahapur police station said.
The matter came to light on Monday when a tribal organisation campaigning against child marriage and bonded labour spotted the boy, a resident of Palghar district, tending to goats in a village, the official said.
He said that based on a complaint, the police have registered a case under section 146 (unlawful compulsory labour) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, and relevant provisions of the Bonded Labour Abolition Act, Child Labour Act and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the boy's father and his employer.
A probe into the crime is underway, and no arrests have been made so far, the official added.