New Delhi, Nov. 13: Bengal police have rescued only one of the 11 girls employed as domestic help in the capital after failing to prove that the others were under 14.

Apart from 12-year-old Manju Sur from East Midnapore’s Seulibarh, the 10 others — identified by the police on complaints by relatives — still work as maids, officials said.

Under the Child Labour (Prevention and Regulation) Act, which includes domestic work as an offence, anyone below 14 is a child.

But a child court in Delhi stepped in last evening, ordering the police to trace the 10 and produce them before it.

At the court under the Delhi child welfare committee set up by the women and child development ministry, chief magistrate Arti Sharma said she would order tests on the children, if necessary, to determine their age.

The police officers said the men accused of trafficking the girls managed to get signed affidavits from their parents, saying their children were over 14.

“Since the affidavits show the age of the girls as over 14, there is little we can do,” said an officer at Kotla Mukbarakpur police station, which is coordinating with the Bengal team in the case. The police suspect the parents were bribed.

The Bengal police officers initially came to Delhi after getting information that an East Midnapore girl, who had allegedly been trafficked by Golok Das, a Delhi placement agent, had died. The girl’s body was found in Panipat.

After they found the body, the officers said they would search for the other girls.

Das, who surrendered to the police, led the officials to his cohorts who had “placed” the other girls. These agents, however, produced the affidavits that left the police stumped.