INDIA: Bonded labour of children continues in Jaunpur of Uttar Pradesh

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from local human rights organisation, the People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) regarding the case of bonded labour of children in Chaturpur village in Newariya of Jaunpur district. It is reported that the children are forced out at gunpoint by a local landlord. It is also reported that the landlord before abducting the children used to rape their mothers at gunpoint.

CASE DETAILS:

There are about 13 Musahar families residing in Chaturpur, Benipur and Lagdharpur villages of Rampur block. These villages are within the jurisdiction of Newariya Police Station in Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh.

Musahars are considered to be the lower caste in India. It is reported that since several years the members of the 13 families from the above villages are forced to work as bonded labourers for Mr. Alam Singh, a local landlord.

Alam owns a farm and attached to the farm is his cowshed. Whenever Alam require persons to work for his farm and the cowshed, Alam visits the Musahar village armed with his rifle and abduct children at gunpoint. Once when the mothers of children protested, Alam went inside the Musahar huts with his weapon and stripped the women off their cloths and raped them at gunpoint. Alam also used to beat the children found inside the house. Alam regularly assaults the Musahar men so that they do not raise their voice in protest.

Ms. Asha Musahar, wife of Bechu Musahar claims that due to Alam’s regular raids at the Musahar villages nobody is willing to get associated within their own community to the Musahar families in Chaturpur, Benipur and Lagdharpur villages. Asha claims that their men find it difficult to marry since the parents of the girls believe that if they marry their daughter to a person from Chaturpur, Benipur and Lagdharpur villages they will also soon be raped by Alam.

Asha claims that once Alam beat her son-in-law. Asha also claims that her son-in-law was forcefully taken off from their house to work for Alam in his cowshed about a year before. Halchal, 17-year-old son of Lalji Musahar is also working as a bonded labour for Alam. They are paid sometimes Rupees 20 a day. The statutory minimum wages in Uttar Pradesh is Rupees 100.

In the most recent incident, on 6 May 2008, Alam forcefully took Vikas, the eight-year-old son of Sama Musahar. Vikas is working in Alam’s cowshed now. Like Asha, several other Musahars have similar complaints against Alam. Ms. Parmila, wife of Sama Musahar, Ms. Phul Devi, wife of Bechu Musahar, Mr. Bechu Lal, son of Bssanta, Mr. Bindu, son of Babau Musahar and Mr. Murat Musahar, son of Ishwar confirms these incidents.

The Musahar families also confirm that the payment they receive as wages from Alam is a pittance of Rupees 20 per day. The villagers also complain that even though they have ration cards that would entitle them to receive subsidised and free food grains they are refused their entitled ration from the local Public Food Distribution (PDS) Shop.

The villagers complain that Alam’s father Mr. Gajraj Singh is a very influential person in the locality. For this reason the local police is refusing to take any action against Alam. In fact the refusal to provide ration also help Alam to continue with bonded labour. This is because in the absence of any ration the Musahar families are forced to work as bonded labourers for Alam, since that is their only source of income. Additionally Alam will not allow any person to escape from his custody and if anyone dared to complain against Alam, he will come to the person’s house and could literally do anything with their family members.

On 7 May 2008 the Musahars protested in front of the District Commissioner’s Office, calling upon the Commissioner to immediately intervene in the situation. (Please see picture 1) However, the Commissioner refused to intervene and even refused to accept their complaint. On May 13 the Musahars sent a letter to the Chief Minister of the state, the National Human Rights Commission, the National Child Commission and the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes.

It is reported that on June 6 the Assistant Registrar (Law) from the National Human Rights Commission send a letter to the District Magistrate of Jaunpur asking for an action taken report upon the complaint it had received regarding this case. Somehow Alam was informed of this communication. Soon he started visiting the Musahar villages and started beating and abusing the Musahars asking how dare they complain to the authorities.

Contextually, the recently setup National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPR) has issued guidelines for protection of child rights. In particular, the guidelines enumerate procedures to avoid child labour. They are:

(1) The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation Act) 1986 prohibits child labour in 15 occupations and 57 processes. Strict action shall be taken against the employer who violets the rule. 
(2) The Juvenile Justice Act 2006, welfare legislation, has been enacted to provide for care, protection development and rehabilitation of neglected, delinquent children and includes within its purview, child labourers. Also a ‘Child’ is defined as “a person who has not completed eighteenth years of age,” hence it gives protection, care and cover to all children upto the age of 18 years as against the Child Labour Act which prohibits employment of children only up to 14 years of age.
(3) The Bonded Labour System Abolition Act, 1976 must be used as an instrument to book cases against employers of children. 
(4) In addition, the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 can be used to prosecute the principal employer in cases where the engagement of child labour has been done through a contractor.

Apparently none of these recommendations are implemented by the Uttar Pradesh state administration.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter to the authorities mentioned below expressing your concern about this case and calling for an immediate investigation. The AHRC has written a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food calling for an intervention into this case.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER