Bonded labour: Cattle farm owner’s son get 7-yr jail in Tiruchy

CHENNAI: The son of a cattle farm owner in Tiruchy has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment in a bonded labour case involving three workers from Tripura, Odisha and Tamil Nadu. He has also been ordered to pay a fine of Rs 10,000.

According to the police, the three workers were employed at a cattle farm owned by the convict Jeeva’s father Ravi in Kattur village, Thottiyam, where they were forced to work from 5 am till midnight without wages, physically assaulted and housed in a cattle shed.

The case came to light after Musiri Revenue divisional officer Ravichandran received information that Jeeva was allegedly keeping the three workers as bonded labourers at his farm. An inquiry was conducted and the workers were rescued. One of the workers, Babul Majumdar from Tripura, had come to Chennai in search of employment. He was brought to the farm in July 2016 after being promised a monthly salary of Rs 10,000 by Jeeva. Another worker, Arjun Mishra from Odisha, was brought to the farm by Ravi after he got down at Vellore railway station looking for work. He had been promised a monthly salary of Rs 3,000. The third worker, Vinoth Kumar from Tirupattur, had come to Chennai seeking employment before being brought to the farm by an unidentified person.

The police report states that all three workers were beaten up and made to work for nearly 19 hours a day. The Thottiyam police registered a case in December 2018 under Section 370 (A) of the Indian Penal Code, read with Sections 16 and 17 of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976. The chargesheet was filed on April 1, 2019.

The first additional district judge, Tiruchy, convicted Jeeva and sentenced him to seven years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000. Ravi died during the proceedings, while his wife Suntharambal was acquitted.