A family of four who had been forced to work as bonded labourers at a brick factory in Hassan district in Karnataka were rescued by Revenue Department officials on July 2. The brick factory owner Sathish was arrested by the Holenarasipura police on July 4.
According to the police, the rescued family, Mokardaj Putel, 35, his wife Urmila Putel, 27, and their two children, aged 11 and 5, hail from Balangir district in Odisha. They had migrated to Mandya, Karnataka, three years ago in search of employment. Initially working in a brickmaking unit in Mandya, the family moved to Jodi Gubbi village in Holenarasipura taluk of Hassan, lured by the promise of better wages and an advance payment of Rs 17,000 from Sathish.
Sathish had promised the family Rs 800 for every 1,000 bricks they produced daily and provided them with shelter and cooking supplies. However, they were not paid for their work over the last three years and were not allowed to move freely or visit their native place.
The plight of the Putel family came to the attention of Holenarasipura officials through social media after their videos were posted by an NGO on the micro-blogging platform X. Tahsildar KK Krishnamurthy, along with other officials, rescued the family and relocated them to a post-metric hostel of the Social Welfare Department in Ambedkar Nagar, Holenarasipura.
According to Labour Inspector Yamuna, the family will be sent back to Odisha only after they have been registered as bonded labourers. “The Revenue Department is in the process of declaring them as bonded labourers. Once they are registered as bonded labourers, they will be rehabilitated by the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department. Their bank accounts will be opened and we will need their identity proof,” Yamuna said. She added that the family does not have any identification documents, which has slowed the process.
Sathish, the brick kiln owner, faces multiple charges under sections 143 (trafficking of a person) and 146 (unlawful compulsory labour) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, sections 16 (punishment for enforcement of bonded labour), 17 (punishment for advancement of bonded debt), and 18 (punishment for extracting bonded labour under the bonded labour system) of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, and section 3 (prohibition of employment of children in certain occupations and processes) of the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act.
According to The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, a bonded labourer is a person who is forced to work under certain conditions. A primary condition is debt bondage, where the individual is compelled to work as a result of any pre-existing debt or obligation. This can include work without wages or for nominal wages, or work to repay an advance or loan taken by themselves or their family. Bonded labour also encompasses situations where the labour or service is given due to coercion, and the person cannot freely leave the employment.
The Act specifically addresses cases where the debtor, or any of their family members, are forced to work as a result of a debt, and their freedom to move or to seek alternative employment is restricted. It also covers conditions of labour that are exploitative or harsh, and situations where the amount of the debt is such that it is virtually impossible to repay, leading to a state of continuous bondage.