R. Murugan* was studying in Class 7 at the Panchayat Union Middle School in Sakkimangalam when he was sold a dream of freedom, pocket money, a movie a week, and occasional car rides. A broker promised this would come true if he worked at a murukku and appalam (snack) making unit in Karnataka.
Lured by the dream and pushed by the economic situation of his family, the boy, then aged 13, boarded a train in late 2017 to Ranebennuru, only to end up in the nightmarish hellhole of a snack-making unit.
Murugan’s family was promised ₹30,000 if he worked for one whole year by the owner of the unit, who the family identifies as Rajangam from Usilampatti in Madurai. Murugan’s elder brother, affected by stunted growth, was already toiling there. He was forced to provide a rosy picture of the unit to Murugan.
For the next one year, Murugan woke up at 4 a.m. and worked 20 hours a day. He was served only two meals at 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. His main duty was to handle a huge frying pan, fueled by saw dust.
Severe punishment
If he was seen stopping even for a short while, the punishment doled out by the owner’s wife, who managed the day-to-day work at the unit, ranged from spraying chilling powder on his body to thrashing him with iron rods or rubber tubes.
A couple of weeks after Murugan began work, he cried to his mother over phone and wanted to return, but the owner refused. “Once in a week our parents can call us. The owner or his wife will stand beside. We will get beaten up if we complained,” he said.
Murugan’s mother said that she waited with bated breath for one year to bring him back. “My mother-in-law died sometime in the middle of the year and I wanted both my sons to be present. The owner refused. Even after a year, I had to fight to bring Murugan back. The owner was keen on retaining him there,” she said.
On the boy’s return a few months before, the family was paid ₹30,000.
S. Selvagomathy, joint director of Society for Community Organisation Trust, which had rescued children working as bonded labourers, said these incidents proved that the problem was widely prevalent.
(*Name changed to protect identity)
