Ten bonded labourers set free in Haryana

NEW DELHI, FEB 10: Sold into slavery for ridiculously small sums of money, they were condemned to die in bondage, until the South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude, a Delhi-based NGO, stepped in. Ten bonded labourers, including two women and two infants, working in an obscure stone quarry – Maha Stone Crusher Company – owned by Maha Singh in Charkhi Dadri in Haryana, were rescued with the help of the local police on Feb 1. A petition has also been filed by the NGO, asking the NHRC to intervene, since more than five families are believed to be still inside the quarry. The commission has also issued a notice to the state government asking for a detailed report. “We are investigating the matter and we hope to come out with a report soon,” said Shivaji Singh, Additional Deputy Inspector General, NHRC, who is heading the investigating team.

Subjected to a life of forced slavery and physical torture where the women were repeatedly molested, they crushed stones with a hammer weighing 15 kg, for more than 14hours day. Strangley, many of the labourers did not even know where they come from, having been sold and resold many a time.

Dalram, 25, a Bhil from Gujarat, was sold to his present employer by his father when he was only four years old. “My father took Rs 2,000 from his employer when my mother died. Since then we have been forced to work for them,” says Dalram.

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Hari Hara Ram, who has been working at the quarry for more than five years, has received no payment. Instead, his employer would keep reminding him of a due he is not even aware of. “Perhaps my father must have taken some advance. I really don’t know how I got into this,” he said.

And even as these labourers experienced freedom for the first time, the anxiety on their faces tell a different tale, as some of their family members are still in the quarry.