Brick kiln workers get justice after 12-year wait

BALANGIR: Twelve years after suffering physical and mental torture by a brick kiln owner at Karnataka, six migrant labourer families from Tentelmunda village in Belpada block finally got justice. The Additional Sessions Court of Bengaluru Rural district convicted the brick kiln owner from Devanahalli in Karnataka to three years imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 52,000 under section 18 of Bonded Labour System (Abolition) act, section 374 of IPC, section 3 and 14 of Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act and section 3 of Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. 

Sources said the owner had confined 12 members of the six families from the district in his kiln from 2005 to 2008. They were taken to Bengaluru by an agent who charged advance ranging from Rs 6,000 to Rs 10,000 from them. The labourers and their children were not only overworked and underpaid, they were also abused verbally and physically. “For three years, we were not allowed to move out of the brick kiln. He (the owner) would thrash us with lathis and threaten that he would bury our skeletons at the kiln after we die there,” said Agni Tumunia, one of the survivors who lost her husband to a road accident a few years back. After being rescued from the kiln, she came back home and cooked mid-day meals at a Government school to ensure her three sons went to college. 

Another survivor Motiram Tumunia said only the male members of the families were allowed to go to the market once a week. The women and children were kept at the kiln to ensure the men did not escape. We were forced to work for 14 hours a day.”  Sources said the victims were given a measly daily wage of Rs 28 per person. At the time of their rescue in 2008, the mandated minimum wage for a brick kiln worker in Karnataka was Rs 140 per day. What’s worse is that the owner of the kiln also forced the children to work. 

The families were rescued by the Bengaluru Rural district administration and police, who were assisted by International Justice Mission in 2008. After an enquiry, release certificates were issued to the adults and the children. An FIR was filed against the owner of the kiln but he managed to get bail. The chargesheet in the case was filed in June 2009 and the trial began on May 28, 2013.