Labourers Taking Advantage Of "Bonded Labour Thing", This Is A Racket : Justice Hemant Gupta

Supreme Court judge Justice Hemant Gupta on Wednesday, September 8, made certain oral remarks questioning the existence of bonded labours in the country and opined that a racket was running to take advantage of the "bonded labour thing".

"Do you know who are bonded labourers? They are not bonded. They take the money and come there and are engaged by brick kilns. They come from backward areas. They take the money and eat the money and then resign. This is a racket in the country. These labourers only take advantage of this bonded labourer thing," Justice Gupta reportedly said, as reported by news agency PTI.

Justice Gupta made the observation while hearing a plea by late social activist Swami Agnivesh on behalf of a woman worker who was allegedly subjected to repeated rape by an associate of brick kiln contractor in RS Pura sub-division of Jammu.

The lawyer representing the State of Jammu and Kashmir informed the bench that a closure report was filed in the case in 2018 after the woman went untraceable.

Noting that the State has filed a detailed response, the bench, also comprising Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, observed that the State will take remedial steps, if any, required.

According to the petition filed in 2012, after the woman and her husband expressed their wish to return to their native state in June, the contractor refused to relieve them unless they paid him Rs 3 lakh. Though the husband managed to escape from the camp, his wife and child were kept under illegal confinement. During the illegal confinement, she was repeatedly raped by the contractor and others, it was alleged. The woman and her son had subsequently shifted to a rehabilitation home at the intervention of an NGO and police, the petitiioner Swami Agnivesh stated.

Swami Agnivesh passed away in September 2020.