The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Former CJI hails NGOs' role in rescuing bonded labour

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 13, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Former CJI hails NGOs' role in rescuing bonded labour

Staff Reporter

"Courts accessible to poor thanks to PIL petitions"

STARK REALITY: Students of the Department of Social Work, Madras Christian College, Tambaram, staging a performance on bonded labour at the college premises on Monday. — Photo: A. Muralitharan

TAMBARAM: Thanks to public interest litigation (PIL) petitions, courts in the country have become accessible to the poor, former Chief Justice of India P.N. Bhagwati, said on Monday.

He said the poor were unaware of their rights and, therefore, unable to assert them. They did not have physical and monetary access to courts for fighting their cases.

Mr. Bhagwati made these observations while delivering the keynote address at `Forced Labour — An Illusion or Reality,' a meeting organised by the Department of Social Work, Madras Christian College, at the college premises in Tambaram.

Stressing that justice should be made available to the poor and bonded labour, he said with PIL petitions, even an ordinary letter to the court could be treated as petition and courts would take up pressing problems. Pointing out that many non-governmental organisations had filed PIL petitions in the court pertaining to bonded labour, he added that NGOs had a problem — they were unable to submit the requisite evidence.

"Hence, courts direct the setting up of enquiry commissions and ask the State governments to bear the cost." Further action is taken on the reports of the Commission. Pointing out that several labourers had been released from bondage all over the country due to PIL petitions filed by NGOs and subsequent court orders, he stressed on their rehabilitation.

John Cotton Richmond, Director of the Chennai office of the International Justice Mission, said when the employers of bonded labour were not prosecuted, there was no deterrent to the crime. Citing a recent instance where 84 bonded labourers were rescued from a rice mill, he said the owner was fined Rs. 500 and kept in jail for a day. Soon, he started to employ another set of people as bonded labourers.

Classifying bonded labourers under four circumstances — failure to pay wages or minimum wages, no freedom of employment, no freedom of travel and no freedom to sell goods or services in the market — Mr. Richmond said even if one of the conditions was met, it amounted to keeping a person against his or her will by the employer.

During the daylong programme, a section of the rescued bonded labourers also took part in an interactive session with the audience.

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