Police have rescued three bonded labourers who were allegedly chained for the past 12 days by a farmer for work at Majhupur village falling under the Chabhal police station, officials said on Wednesday.
The police have arrested the farmer, identified as Gurdev Singh, and rescued Jarmanjit Singh of Batala and Deep Singh of Jandiala in Punjab, and Manoj Sahni of Bihar. The accused, who owns around 5 acres, forced the labourers to work in his field and also take care of his cattle.
A case under Sections 16 of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act and Sections 365 (abduction), 341, 342 and 343 (wrongful confinement for more than three days) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered at the Chabhal police station on the complaint of assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Baldev Singh.
The ASI said he was patrolling on the Panwar-Bhojian link road when he received a tip-off that Gurdev had been holding some persons captive in his home. A raid was conducted and three labourers were rescued, he said.
“The labourers told us that they were picked up by Gurdev from the Amritsar railway station around two weeks ago with a promise of handsome salaries, but they were held captive and were subjected to torture. The victims said they were chained during the night and were forced to do labour work during the day. They were given food once a day,” the ASI said.
{{/usCountry}}“The labourers told us that they were picked up by Gurdev from the Amritsar railway station around two weeks ago with a promise of handsome salaries, but they were held captive and were subjected to torture. The victims said they were chained during the night and were forced to do labour work during the day. They were given food once a day,” the ASI said.
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