A video is doing the rounds on the internet that shows a boy working as a Zomato delivery executive. Rahul Mittal, who posted the video on Twitter, claimed that the boy is seven years old, but the food delivery giant confirmed his age to be 14 in a statement. The boy took to food delivery to support his family after the accident of his father. The video has amassed more than 40,000 views. After the clip went viral on Twitter, the company pointed out about the "multifold violations" but said they are not taking any strict action, "keeping in mind the situation the family is in".
The nearly 30-second video shows Mr Mittal talking to the boy about why he is doing this. Holding a box of chocolates in one hand, the teenager is seen explaining to the Twitter user about his working hours and that he uses a bicycle to deliver food to homes.
The boy told Mr Mittal that he cycles door-to-door from 6 pm-11 pm to deliver food after finishing school in morning. After watching the video, some users got emotional and offered to help the boy.
"Kindly share more details in DM, will take care of his studies and expenditure," a user said in his tweet. "Imagine if his hardwork, patience, his determination, and helping nature can be diverted to his studies, what good he can do to the society," said another.
Zomato later issued a statement, in which it thanked the internet community for bringing the story to its notice.
"We are thankful to the internet community for bringing this to our notice. There are multifold violations here - child labour and misrepresentation, and we've educated the family on these grounds while not taking any strict action on this, keeping in mind the situation the family is in," a Zomato spokesperson said.
"We have offered to support the 14-year-old's education through the Zomato Future Foundation. The father onboarded on Zomato post his accident; therefore, the accidental support we offer to our active delivery partners cannot be extended to him. As an exception and on humanitarian grounds, our teams have extended whatever support was possible in the said situation," it further added.
