Tamil Nadu: 42 bonded workers rescued, describe shocking treatment

42 bonded labourers, including children were rescued from 2 wood cutting units on the same day from Kancheepuram and Vellore districts of Tamil Nadu. Based on a tip-off from an NGO, Sub Collectors of Kancheepuram and Vellore visited the spots and were shocked to see the reality.

28 people including 19 children from 8 families were rescued from Kancheepuram after Kancheepuram Released Bonded Labourers Association informed the district authorities.Among the pictures and videos that went viral from the site of rescue, the most moving was that of a frail-looking senior citizen falling on the feet of the officials, ostensibly for having rescued the laborers and their families. 

The families were subjected to bonded labour for allegedly 2 to 15 years after they borrowed amounts in cash ranging from Rs 9000 to 25000.

The elders accused the factory owner of starving them and their children and virtually pleaded with the authorities to save them. In one the videos shot during the rescue, a woman recounts the inhuman treatment meted out and says to the officials, “The torture was such that they didn't even provide us food before going for work in the morning. We just drank water instead. Our kids aspired to study in schools but they were not allowed to. The person who is responsible for this inhuman treatment meted out to us is Nataraj. He has his meals on time and takes rest, while we toil hard without food. Few others who were bonded labourers here ran away without being able to tolerate the ill-treatment. He barely pays us Rs 100-200.” 

In another video a lady official is seen questioning the alleged perpetrator of the crime. On being questioned by the district officials the man who is said to have held the labourers captive says that "I am taking care of them, they have been working here only for a week or so."When asked about whose land it is, he says, "the land belongs to a person in Chennai and we have been asked to take care and cut the wood, the wood is later sold to rice mills and other factories"

All have been rescued and an investigation has been initiated against the owner.