Four bonded labourers, including three minors, were rescued from a vegetable farm at Hoskote on the outskirts of the city.
The labourers – now aged between 14 years and 25 years – were forced to work in the farm by the owner and his five children after their parents were given a loan. Three labourers are from Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu, while another is from Ramanagara district.
Though they are now above the legal age, inquiries have revealed that the bonded labourers were aged between 9 years and 15 years when they were forced to work in the farm, said International Justice Mission (IJM), an NGO that assisted in the rescue.
The modus operandi to entrap the children follows a pattern of trafficking. The parents are given loans of between Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 60,000. As “repayment” of the loan, their children are sent to work in the farm as well as the owner’s house under exploitative conditions. The four worked for around 14 hours a day without a day’s rest. Insubordination was dealt through abuse and violence, while the payment was a meagre Rs. 10 a week. The bonded labourers were made to stay in a cow shed, the NGO said.
“This is a serious crime. The owners have been slapped with charges that attract a minimum of 10 years sentence. The rescued labourers will be rehabilitated,” said G.B. Chandrashekara, Hoskote tahsildhar.
The district administration, which conducted the raids on July 16, have registered a case against the owner and his sons at the Hoskote police station under IPC 370 (Trafficking of Persons), the Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act, 1976, and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, among others.
