Maharashtra: Desperate for Diwali cash, bonded labourer brutally caned in Palghar

Pawar with activists shows a copy of the FIR; Deepak Damu Pawar; Harshad Vishnu Dengane, the landlord who thrashed Pawar; marks of the beating on Pawar’s leg and back. Pics/Hanif Patel

A bonded labourer was brutally caned by a landlord in Wada taluka of Palghar after he went to work in a field of the latter's rival to earn some money for Diwali. After the assault, the landlord threatened the victim saying he would pack his body in a jute sack and discard it if he didn't return to his field. Deepak Damu Pawar, 38, belonging to the primitive Katkari tribe, had taken a loan of Rs 2,000 last year from his landlord Harshad Dengane, 35, as his wife Kalpana was to deliver a baby. Those involved with tribal welfare say there are 150 cases of poor tribals being forced into bonded labour in Maharashtra.

According to the FIR registered at Wada police station, for every day that Pawar worked in Harshad's paddy field, Rs 100 was waived off from the loan he had taken. Pawar was forced to work in the paddy field as he had taken the loan. However, since it was a festive time and he needed money, he went to work in the neighbouring field of Mahesh Dengane on November 9.

Deepak Damu Pawar with his wife and child near their hut

"When Harshad got to know about this, he accosted Pawar, grabbed him by his collar and started to cane him mercilessly in the presence of co-workers," said Vijay Jadhav, a social activist working for Shramjeevi Sangathana - an organisation that works to protect the rights of tribals in Maharashtra.

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According to Jadhav, Pawar is a poor tribal belonging to the Katkari community. He lives with his father, wife and child. He is a daily wage earner like other tribals in the taluka. "Even if he had worked in Harshad's field, he would not have got the remuneration to meet the festival requirement because his labour would have been to compensate for the advance he had taken from him last year. So, he preferred to work in the field of Mahesh, who gives a little more in wages than what Harshad pays his labourers," he said.

Snack packets next to a makeshift chulha inside Pawar's hut

The statement given by Pawar to Wada police states, "Harshad came with a wooden stick and he punched me on my back and leg. Later, he caned me causing injuries to my back and leg."

"Based on the statement, we registered an FIR under Sections 323, 324, 504, 506 of the Indian Penal Code, provisions of SC/ST Act and Sections 16, 17 and 18 of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act against Harshad Dengane on November 10. Our investigation is underway," said a senior officer from Palghar police.

Harshad recently joined a bank as a clerk in Wada taluka, where local residents accuse him of being very aggressive in nature and say he often assaults or abuses labourers working in his field. However, he is yet to be arrested.

This is the second FIR within days in Palghar district where the cops have registered a case under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act.

On November 5, 19-year-old Sainath Tumbda registered a case at Manor police station after he was held captive for 53 hours in Karmala taluka in Solapur where he was allegedly subjected to physical assault and torture while being forced to work in a sugarcane field to harvest the cash crop in lieu of his R5,000 advance payment.

mid-day has been highlighting the pathetic conditions of tribals in Maharashtra. A 28-year-old tribal woman bonded labourer, a native of Raigad district, was allegedly gang-raped by her employers in Satara district where she had gone to work in a charcoal manufacturing plant along with her children and husband. The accused had tied the hands and legs of her husband when she was allegedly gang-raped in July.

After the horrible incident, the woman and her husband somehow managed to escape and reached Virar where her statement was recorded and later, the Satara police accompanied her to the crime scene where a total of 11 bonded labourers were identified at the charcoal manufacturing plant. They were all rescued and set free from bonded labour. The issue also gained political attention at the Legislative Council. mid-day was the first to highlight the ordeal of the survivor on July 07.

"While replying to discussions on the Satara issue, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has assured that an integrated plan focusing on primitive tribes will be chalked out by the government. This is yet to be fulfilled and I am waiting for the inclusive plan," said Vivek Pandit, chairperson of the Tribal Development Review Committee.

"The government has failed to improve the conditions of labourers working in agricultural fields, brick kilns, sugarcane farms, etc. in the state. Absolutely no efforts are being made to end this menace because there is zero enforcement of the Bonded Labour System Abolition Act and no set minimum wages for labourers, who are mostly tribals," Pandit said.

"There is a provision to rehabilitate bonded labourers but, here too, the state government has miserably failed. This provision is made so that the rescued bonded labourers should not get into bondage again, but the government is not serious in rehabilitating these bonded labourers even after they are rescued and released," Pandit told mid-day.

He further told mid-day that more than 150 bonded labourers have been identified in the last three years in Maharashtra. "Our organisation Shramjeevi Sangathana has helped them get released. However, the government of Maharashtra has not rehabilitated a single bonded labourer despite my writing multiple letters to authorities. This reflects the lack of political will to enforce the law to end this menace and I feel ashamed of it."

According to Pandit, it is the duty of the gram sevak, talathi, tahsildar, block development officer and government labour officer, among others to visit each and every site where labourers are working and make sure that they are getting proper wages and their conditions are in accordance with the law. "But the entire government machinery has miserably failed to do anything as such," he lamented.

"The sections in the Bonded Labour System Abolition Act say that it shall be the duty of the district magistrate to identify, release and rehabilitate bonded labourers, and the district magistrate should delegate powers to various officers concerned. In Maharashtra, the district magistrate has empowered all tahsildars as executive magistrates to identify bonded labourers and release and rehabilitate them. But, no identification has been done so far by tahsildars in any of the blocks in the state," Pandit said, adding that if an FIR is registered under the Bonded Labour System Abolition Act, it means that no government officials visited the site where bonded labourers were working. "The conditions remain the same in every district of Maharashtra."

"It is the duty of the district collector to write the Annual Confidential Report (ACR) of the tahsildar, and based on the ACR, the decision over promotion or demotion is made. But no district collector mentions such mistakes of the tahsildar in the ACR… because there is no political or administrative will to abolish this menace," he explained.

Pandit concluded by saying that the condition of the poorest of the poor is not going to change by providing economic benefits and schemes, but through the enforcement of laws which exist to protect the fundamental rights of these poor people. "Forced labour is prohibited. There are fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution of India… but, who cares!"

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No. of cases registered under Bonded Labour Act within days