The high rises of the IT hub tower over a sprawling campus where hundreds of cows are looked after. But this nook of Mahadevapura harbours a darker secret — members of the tribal Irula community allegedly has been forced into bonded labour to look after the cows in the goshala .
On Thursday morning, officials of the district administration and NGO International Justice Mission raided the premises of the Bangalore Gorakshan Shala close to the Outer Ring Road (ORR) and rescued 15 persons. Of these, 11 were labourers — including a 13-year-old — who had been forced into labour for a meagre pay. The remaining four were children, some younger than three years old, who stayed in damp, unhygienic quarters.
The Mahadevapura police have booked a case under the Bonded Labour and Child Labour Acts against Kishanlal Kotari and others from the trust that run the goshala . According to the police, the workers, all from the village of Rayakottai in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu, were trapped in a vicious cycle of debt.
Cycle of debt
Raja, 35, has been working in the goshala for three years, having been lured into the job by his uncle, who subsequently fled the place.
Over these years, the debts of his family — his wife and their three-year-old daughter — have risen to over ₹70,000 as he had taken an advance of ₹30,000 to be released from a previous bonded debt.
Explained the cycle of debt, Raja said the goshala management would “give” him and his wife a salary of ₹7,200 and ₹6,100 per month respectively, assuming they worked for all days between 4 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. However, this salary would then be “adjusted” against the advance and the interest on it. “The interest was so high that we would get only ₹1,200 in hand. I was then forced to take more loans to feed my family. This would be further deducted from the salary next month, forcing me to borrow more money,” he said.
M.K. Jagadeesh, Assistant Commissioner of Bengaluru Urban, said there were a few more Irulas in the goshala who were not willing to come out. “We have sent a notice to the goshala , while a criminal case is being investigated by the police.”
