When 16-year-old Ajeet Kumar, a school dropout, left home for the first time to work — that too 1,100 km away in Maharashtra — he was certain he’d return with enough to at least pay his younger brother’s school fee. He stuffed two pairs of shirts and pants, a shawl and a blanket in a backpack, his only concern being to somehow keep the cold away while harvesting sugarcane for two months.
But within days of work, the 45 agricultural labourers from Gond and Baiga tribes, including him, escaped into the forest to flee confinement by the contractor, whose men caught them later on a highway. What got them safely back home in Surehali village of Mandla district in Madhya Pradesh from Kolhapur district was Mr. Kumar's mobile phone, and grit.
Bonded labourers
“They told us they bought us for ₹4.5 lakh, and so we were indebted, had to work without protest on any condition, and couldn’t leave,” said Mr. Kumar, whose parents, brother and an elder daughter desperately waited for his return home, as a small plot, on which a decrepit two-room hut now stands, is all they own.
Originally promised ₹400 a day per person, a wage startlingly high and unheard of, the labourers felt betrayed upon reaching fields where only ₹250 was offered for a tonne of harvest. Up in arms, the toli (batch), of 14 women carrying three toddlers, and the rest teenagers above 12 and men, refused to work, as 20 persons could harvest 10-12 tonne a day, which meant a paltry ₹125 for each.
On being caught, while the men bore thrashing with sticks and the women threats of sexual assault, and their phones and ATM cards were snatched, Mr. Kumar, along with four others, managed to sneak back into the forest, and call back home to explain the ordeal using the phone he’d kept hidden.
His father then approached the Ghughri police in Mandla district, which contacted the Ajara police in Kolhapur district, which reportedly facilitated a settlement, and both the police units ensured their return.
On Saturday, wary of outsiders, Surehali residents kept sticks, and bows and arrows ready in case of an attack by the contractors, as they had approached the police. “We don’t know if we’d migrate again for work after this harrowing experience. But then, there are no means of livelihood here,” said Pahal Singh, 32.
“They wanted to leave without harvesting sugarcane and returning the advance amount. They were not held hostage, rather they just wanted to run away. In their statement, there is no mention of thrashing,” claimed Ajara police station in-charge Balaji Bhange. “There is no basis for a case.”
