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24 persons including kids forced into bonded labour and tortured in MP, rescued
A separate FIR was registered against Roman Kanjar, Nathua Kanjar, Surendra Kanjar and Jitendra Kanjar under the relevant Sections of Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act
MP police arrested a muscleman on Thursday from Guna district, 214 km north of capital Bhopal, for allegedly keeping and assaulting several bonded labourers and torturing them by pouring hot oil on their hands, said police. Six kids were also among those rescued from his illegal confinement.
The shocking incident came to light after 11 members of the Sehariya tribe escaped from the muscleman’s captivity in Raghogarh area of the district on Tuesday. Their complaint led to the rescue of 13 more people including six kids, who were kept in illegal confinement by the accused and his associates.
The main accused Roman Kanjar, a resident of Raghogarh was arrested under Section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for pouring hot oil on the hands of labourers, said Madan Mohan Malviya, inspector Raghogarh police station.
A separate FIR was registered against Roman Kanjar, Nathua Kanjar, Surendra Kanjar and Jitendra Kanjar under the relevant Sections of Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act after 24 bonded labourers tilling the farm owned by the accused were rescued.
Bonded Labour Liberation Front’s Guna district convener Narendra Bhadoriya said 11 men from the Sehariya tribe were kept as bonded labourers by the accused since their parents had borrowed sums between ₹20,000 to ₹50,000 from him several years ago.
“In return, the accused kept them and their whole families as bonded labourers. The kids used to work as herders while the parents and young people used to work as farm labourers. They were not allowed to go anywhere without permission,” said Bhadoriya.
“A few days ago, some of the people tried to flee but Roman Kanjar came to know about their plan and poured hot oil on their hands as a punishment. On Tuesday, they succeeded in fleeing from their confinement,” Bhadoriya added.
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Guna collector Kumar Purshottam on Thursday ordered an inquiry in the matter and also released certificates to the rescued labourers for their rehabilitation.
“Now, we have sent all of them to their homes and also started their rehabilitation plan,” said the collector.
