Jharna Joshi from Ahmedabad, who rescued 111 child workers by going undercover on a covert operation has been attacked by unidentified assailants, according to reports. She has been admitted to a local hospital.
Jharna, who is a college student, was attacked on Sunday night, and has suffered injuries to her forehead, arms and legs.
They halted me by crossing my way and asked if I was Jharna, the girl who rescued child labourers. Just as I said ‘yes’, they attacked me.Jharna Joshi to local media
As reported by Indiatimes.com, Sunday’s attack comes days after her helping expose a rampant child labour racket in Morbi in which she rescued 100 girls from one factory in Morbi.
Jharna, first became suspicious of the use of underaged children in the factories of Morbi during a visit to her relatives house in April. To uncover the truth Jharna went undercover and joined the company as an employee.
Joshi revealed that during her time as an “employee” she witnessed under age children being forced to work in dangerous conditions, for long hours.
After gathering enough evidence, she approached the concerned department, but to no avail. This made her write to the chief minister, who assured action.
Later, social defence, police department, labour and employment department, factory inspector and child protection officer jointly raided the unit and rescued the children from the unit on Friday.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)