Amritsar:
A couple working as bonded labourers at a dairy shop in the district was rescued along with their three children by the district administration and the Bachpan Bachao Andolan NGO, police said Friday.
During the raid Thursday at the Fatehpur village by the NGO and the district administration, 23-year-old Jasveer Singh’s hands were found tied with chains, the NGO’s assistant project officer Dinesh Kumar said.
The raid at the dairy owned by a person named Mohinder Singh was conducted following directions from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), he said. Besides Jasveer Singh, his wife Baljit Kaur (22), their sons Gurjit Singh (6) and Fateh Singh (2) and daughter Reet Kaur (4) have been rescued, SHO Jatinder Singh said. “Police were there to extend help and assistance to revenue official Manjit Singh and his team. No case was registered by police against anyone,” he added.
Manjit Singh, who led the raiding team, said the matter is still under investigation. Legal opinions are being sought from experts and the dairy owner has been asked to file an explanation, he added.
Lashing out at the Amritsar district administration, Dinesh Kumar said, “We requested the SDM to lead the raiding team but she declined saying that a revenue officer (tehsildar) will accompany, but the tehsildar concerned also declined and sent his patwari to lead the operation.” Kumar alleged the dairy owner had been “torturing” Jasveer Singh for the past one year. “At the time of employment five years back, Jasveer Singh was promised a Rs 15,000 salary per month which he never got, but Rs 3,000 per month were given for buying medicines and groceries. He was not even allowed to leave the dairy premises. The owner of the dairy told Jasveer Singh that his money was being deposited with him and to be paid well in time when needed. Conflict arose when Jasveer Singh asked for his four years’ deposits,” Kumar said.
Kumar said Jasveer Singh is a resident of Tarn Taran district and had come to Amritsar for employment after disposing off his small piece of land worth Rs 25,000 which was deposited with the dairy owner who later on refused to return the money.
He said Jasveer was employed along with his family to take care of 120 animals (cows and buffalos) round the clock with no weekends. In the past six months, sometimes the family could not get even two square meals.
