Bonded labour: 15 of fettered family freed in Bahawalnagar
The family, including women and children, is recovered from a brick kiln in a police raid.
BAHAWALNAGAR:
Police recovered 15 members of a family, including women and children, from bonded labour in a brick kiln during a raid here on Tuesday.
Officials, led by DSP Anwar Chishty of Minchana Abaad, raided the kiln on the orders of Additional Sessions Judge Mohsin Raza, the application to court had been moved by one of the relatives of the victims. The kiln owner was alleged to have detained victims for the last six months.
Rafiq Khan, a police official who took part in the raid, revealed that the entire family was found chained in metal cuffs.
The victims were shifted to Darul Amaan in Bahawalnagar for protection, as they still face threats from the owner of the kiln.
They included three children aged less than five years. Talking to The Express Tribune, the released victims said that they will submit an application against the kiln owner.
Jumma Khan, the owner of the kiln, was not found at the time of the raid and is still at large. Police officials asserted that they had nabbed the brother of the kiln owner who maintained that the prisoners had taken advance money which had not been returned.
To pay off their accumulated debts, they had been asked to work on the kiln.
Shakeel, one of the family members of the victims, told The Express Tribune that they would like this matter to be investigated by the judiciary.
Rubina, one of the victims, said that the brutal kiln owner would not have set them free under any circumstances. Victims also maintained that no account was being taken of their wages as laborers, while they had not taken any loan.
(With additional input and photo by Sajad Haider Wattoo)
Published in The Express Tribune, December 28th, 2011.
Police recovered 15 members of a family, including women and children, from bonded labour in a brick kiln during a raid here on Tuesday.
Officials, led by DSP Anwar Chishty of Minchana Abaad, raided the kiln on the orders of Additional Sessions Judge Mohsin Raza, the application to court had been moved by one of the relatives of the victims. The kiln owner was alleged to have detained victims for the last six months.
Rafiq Khan, a police official who took part in the raid, revealed that the entire family was found chained in metal cuffs.
The victims were shifted to Darul Amaan in Bahawalnagar for protection, as they still face threats from the owner of the kiln.
They included three children aged less than five years. Talking to The Express Tribune, the released victims said that they will submit an application against the kiln owner.
Jumma Khan, the owner of the kiln, was not found at the time of the raid and is still at large. Police officials asserted that they had nabbed the brother of the kiln owner who maintained that the prisoners had taken advance money which had not been returned.
To pay off their accumulated debts, they had been asked to work on the kiln.
Shakeel, one of the family members of the victims, told The Express Tribune that they would like this matter to be investigated by the judiciary.
Rubina, one of the victims, said that the brutal kiln owner would not have set them free under any circumstances. Victims also maintained that no account was being taken of their wages as laborers, while they had not taken any loan.
(With additional input and photo by Sajad Haider Wattoo)
Published in The Express Tribune, December 28th, 2011.