Left with severed elbow after 8 months of hell: NHRC steps in for Bihar boy forced into bonded labour

NHRC Intervention Case: NHRC Intervention Case: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) recently took suo motu (on its own motion) cognisance of a media report about a minor boy from Bihar’s Kishanganj who was forced into bonded labour after being separated by his father at Bahadurgarh Railway Station in Haryana.

Reportedly, the boy stepped off the train to fetch water at the Railway Station but could not board it again to be with his father due to the heavy crowd. Thereafter, he missed the train and, for eight months, suffered the ordeal before being rescued and returned home with his left elbow severed.

“The Commission has observed that the contents of the media report, if true, raise a serious issue of human rights violation. Therefore, it has issued notices to the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police, Haryana as well as the Commissioner of Police, Gautam Budh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh and the District Magistrate, Kishanganj, Bihar. The response is expected from the authorities within two weeks,” the NHRC press release dated January 15 said.

The NHRC also directed the authorities to inform whether any compensation has been paid and a disability certificate issued or not to enable the victim to get the benefits of the Persons with Disabilities (PwD) Act, 2016.

In a related development, the State Human Rights Commission of Haryana commended the police’s investigation for their “earnest and sincere” efforts in locating the whereabouts of the perpetrator who allegedly forced a minor boy into labour and abandoned him after his hand was severed in a fodder-cutting engine machine.

The Commission had taken suo motu cognisance of the incident based on a news report in The Indian Express from August.

Chairperson Justice Lalit Batra and other members of the body, earlier in January, found that the 16-year-old boy was allegedly found by the accused, Anil Kumar, 28, on the Bahadurgarh Railway Station alone when he decided to keep him with the “intention of confining him” and forcing him to work at his dairy.

Kumar was subsequently booked under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, for offences including kidnapping, causing grievous hurt, illegal confinement and forcing a child into labour.

“We have gone through the..Police report and observe that Inspector Satya Parkash… has made earnest and sincere efforts to locate the whereabouts of the culprit,” the order passed on January 17 read.

Advocate Yogesh Parshad, the advocate appearing for the minor, while talking with The Indian Express, said that the definition of “bonded labour” is “very vast” and in cases of forced and bonded labour, the victims go through mental and physical bondage where they are forced to work with no money.

He mentioned that no release certificate has yet been issued by the authority concerned and emphasised that the sections of “trafficking and bonded labour” are yet to be included in the case.

“The fight against bonded labour is a long battle, but compensating the victim for their misery provides some relief,” Parshad added.

Parshad alo said that since the NHRC had “taken suo moto cognisance” of the case, it could direct the authority concerned to declare the minor as “bonded labourer” and initiate the appropriate procedure.

The matter would come up before the state human rights commission on March 17.

Richa Sahay is a Legal Correspondent for The Indian Express, ... Read More