JOIN USThe authorities rescued 28 people, including minors, who were working as bonded labourers in sugar cane fields at Maragowdanahalli village in KR Nagar taluk on Thursday.
Ramaiah, of Tondalu village, Hunsur taluk, and his son Ravi have been booked under the Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act, 1976, IPC Section 370 (trafficking of persons) and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016.
They have been remanded in judicial custody. The case was registered at the Saligrama police station. Ramaiah is a contractor for Bannari Amman Sugar Factory.
Police said Ramaiah and Ravi had brought the workers from Hunsur (Mysuru district), Koppa (Mandya) and Tiruvannamalai (Tamil Nadu) and forced them to work as bonded labourers, cutting sugar cane and loading it into trucks.
The labourers were being periodically shifted to sugar cane plantations throughout Karnataka and Tamil Nadu during the harvest season. They were given advances ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 23,000 per family and were promised Rs 240 to Rs 270 as daily wages per person.
One of the victims said: “We were promised Rs 270 every day when we were offered jobs. I have been working here for three years. We are not allowed to go out, not even to my hometown. Even when my son committed suicide I was not allowed to go. I wanted to go back home to help him but I only got to see his body.”
International Justice Mission, an NGO, tipped the Assistant Commissioner, A Sowjanya, and the Hunsur tahsildar besides police, Social Welfare and Labour Department officials.
Sowjanya confirmed that Ramaiah neither paid the labourers minimum wages nor did he provide them with basic amenities.
Among the victims are nine men, 10 women and nine minors. Each family will be given a compensation of Rs 20,000 and sent back to their hometowns, Sowjanya added.