BENGALURU: Mahadesh (23) from Krishnagiri lost his childhood and teenage years having seen nothing more than the insides of a rock quarry in Jigani, Anekal taluk since he was six months old. Deprived of education, freedom and good health, he joined his family in working at the quarry when he was only six years old. Though he was allowed to study initially, his “owner” pulled him out of school. From the time he was 15 till he turned 19, Mahadesh continued slaving at the quarry from 6am to 7pm, with insufficient food served once at 10 am and again at 1 am.
Though his brother filed a police complaint, police spent three months enquiring and took no action. When his family got in touch with the International Justice Mission (IJM), they secured his release. He received Rs 20,000 as compensation. He still awaits Rs 1 lakh compensation pending from the government. Now 23 years old, he has taken up farming and curses his fate for being cheated out of receiving an education. He ensures his sister studies in Bengaluru.
Like Mahadesh, many rescued bonded labourers on Tuesday led a human chain formed to create awareness in the city on human trafficking. The event was held as part of the World Day against Trafficking in Persons. It was organised by the International Justice Mission, an NGO, along with St. Joseph’s College and Railway Protection Force, South Western Railway.
Like Mahadesh, Chandramma, also from Krishnagiri, was cheated into working at a sericulture unit in Chikkaballapur with false promises of weekly pay, a roof and food. What she received instead was a 14-hour workday throughout the week, sleeping in a godown, receiving such little food that she starved herself to feed her 3.5-year-old child. Both suffered from skin infections owing to the environment.
“They did not let me go to the doctor when I was ill. I did not see a single human being from the world outside for six months,” she said. Rescued and released with the help of the NGO recently, she has to restart her life but without the support of her husband, who passed away recently.
The location for the human chain was chosen owing to the fact that traffickers rampantly use trains to transport victims for bonded labour. 2,400 children have been rescued at railway stations in Bengaluru in the last one-and-a-half years through RPF’s Operation Nanhe Farishte. Between 2013 to 2019, IJM rescued 1,091 victims of bonded labour in Karnataka with assistance from police and district administration.