Perpetrators fear little as cases drag on for years

Chandramma, 30, can remember nothing but bewilderment when the Chikkaballapur district administration raided the reeling unit in Sidlaghatta town where she was working as a bonded labourer. She had been tricked into bonded labour and had worked there in captivity for six months.

“Harassment, meagre food and no wages is what I got for taking an advance of Rs 60,000. I had almost lost hope of seeing the outside world,” she said. A sense of liberation overcame her as she stepped out of the unit with her four-year-old son.

Chandramma’s ordeal began when she started working at the factory after taking an advance. Hard labour and long hours took a toll on her health and she stopped, telling the employer she would repay the money in instalments. “Within a day, he came to my house with his men and two police constables and dragged me back to the factory, after which I was confined there,” she told DH.

She tried to escape once but was caught and taken back to the factory.

Chandramma was served two meals a day and had to portion it and save some of the rice from her morning meal to feed her son in the afternoon since the second meal was served only at 8 pm.

“He had to sit in a corner watching me working at the reeling unit. If he tried to come near me, the employer would beat both of us. I couldn’t bear to see someone hitting my son, so I used to run towards the child and slap him,” she recalled.

More heart-wrenching details poured out. She was allowed to bathe only once a month, as a result of which she and her son developed skin rashes.

Chandramma is one of 12 bonded labourers rescued in February from two reeling units in Sidlaghatta.

Some were confined for up to 10 years in factories run by two brothers; the women had no access to the outside world.

Banks ignore the poor

“I didn’t have to endure this hardship if I could have taken a loan from a bank,” Chandramma said. Banks don’t lend to the poor, particularly migrants and landless labourers, saying they have no documents. A majority of bonded labourers are migrant and landless.

Prathima of International Justice Mission (IJM) says financial assistance soon after release is crucial for rehabilitation.

If no support is given after release, survivors tend to become bonded labourers again, she said.

According to the Central Sector Scheme for Rehabilitation of Bonded Labourers, survivors are entitled to immediate rehabilitation assistance of Rs 20,000 from a corpus fund. Full compensation is provided to rescued bonded labourers on conviction of their employers: Rs 1 lakh for men, Rs 2 lakh for women and children, and Rs 3 lakh for victims of sexual harassment, prostitution or trafficking. While 25 per cent of the amount is paid in cash, the rest is given as a stipend.

L K Atheeq, principal secretary, State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department, says the clause ‘compensation upon conviction’ is problematic. “The trials take a long time to conclude. The state government is formulating ways to ensure speedy trials,” he said.

The path from identification to rehabilitation is not easy for bonded labourers and organisations working with them.

Between 1993 and 1995, Jeeta Vimukti Karnataka (Jeevika), which focuses on the farm sector, identified 18,000 bonded labourers in 48 taluks of the state. “But only 10 per cent of them were qualified as bonded labourers by the government. In another case, we had to seek the intervention of the High Court for the administration to acknowledge rescued workers as survivors of bonded labour,” said Kiran Kamal Prasad, coordinator of Jeevika.

Survey and identification

If the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act is followed in letter and spirit, the problem can be eliminated, he argues.

“According to a Supreme Court judgement in 2012, there should be a survey of bonded labourers once in three years. But this is not followed. As a result, the magnitude of the problem remains unknown,” he said.

Many applications for government support are pending with officials, making life tough for survivors.

The raids are usually based on tip-offs. Some owners get advance information through their sources in the departments and manipulate the situations.

In some cases, bonded labourers are terrified of revealing details to the police as the inquiry is conducted in the presence of the offender.

“Some rescued from the ginger fields in Hassan last December had provided wrong addresses. We had to struggle to locate them for rehabilitation programmes,” Prathima said.

Karnataka State Action Plan on the Rehabilitation of Bonded Labourers states in many cases no legal action is initiated against employers even after workers are rescued.

Experts attribute low rates of conviction to slow prosecution, connections enjoyed by offenders, and the vulnerability of the victims.

The Hangarahalli bonded labour case that hit the headlines in 2000 was concluded in 2017, with the Karnataka High Court acquitting all accused for lack of evidence.

In the 129 cases recorded with assistance from IJM since 2005, 126 perpetrators were charged, 54 arrested and only eight convicted.

When convictions are few, perpetrators think they can go scot-free, social workers observe.