SC notice to Odisha, AP in hand chopping case

The Supreme Court on Monday took suo motu cognisance of a news report relating to the horrific incident of chopping off the right hand of two migrant labourers from Odisha by a contractor in December last year and sought response from Chief Secretaries of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh in this regard.

Acting on the report, a bench presided over by Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justice Rangan Gogoi issued notice to the top bureaucrats of the two states.

According to the report, the incident occurred near a jungle in Belpada village in Kalahandi district of Odisha when the two labourers were being taken back to their homes to recover the money paid to them in advance when they were hired. They had refused to work in a brick kiln in Raipur district of Chhattisgarh.

On the way back, the contractor and his accomplice got drunk and chopped off the right handsof the two workers, the report said.

The police have launched a manhunt for the contractor and his accomplice.
The two labourers were part of a group of 12 hired for Rs 14,000 each by the contractor to work in a brick kiln in Andhra Pradesh.

However, the contractor tried to forcibly take all of them to Raipur in Chhattisgarh to work in a brick kiln there.