New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that there are no bonded labourers in the country and that there is a racket running on the pretext of bonded labour while hearing a petition filed by Swami Agnivesh about a woman who was allegedly repeatedly raped by the owner of a construction unit after her husband escaped from the facility.
According to Bar and Bench, Justice Hemant Gupta said that bonded labourers are not actually bonded but are paid money for work and then resign. He said:
“Do you know who are bonded labourers? They are not bonded. They take money and come there and are engaged by brick kilns. They come from backward areas. They take money and eat the money and then resign. This is a racket. These labourers only take advantage of this bonded labourer thing.”
The judge made these observations while hearing a case filed by the now-deceased social activist Swami Agnivesh in 2012. The public interest litigation asked the top court to intervene and direct the Jammu and Kashmir police to investigate rape and other offences alleged by a bonded labourer. The petition said that a bonded labourer was repeatedly raped by the owner of a construction unit after her husband had escaped from the facility.
The PIL also said other bonded labourers in Jammu and Kashmir should be identified, released and rehabilitated.
According to Bar and Bench, the lawyer for the petitioner, the counsel for the petitioner said that many of the bonded labourers were victims of sexual harassment and had not been paid any compensation even after 10 years after their release.
When the PIL was taken up some years ago, the top court directed the registration of a first information report (FIR) and that the case be investigated.
It was informed on Wednesday by the standing counsel for Jammu and Kashmir, advocate Taruna A. Prasad that the FIR was registered and a probe initiated but the victim “had gone untraceable”, leading to the closure of the case in 2018.
With Agnivesh’s death, the state said not much remains in the case.
When the counsel for the petitioner stated that larger issues of bonded labourers need to be dealt with, the court observed that “there was no such thing as a bonded labour”, according to Bar and Bench.
The court said that the government has filed a detailed response and will take remedial steps, if any are required, under the law.