Bonded labourers not bonded; are in a money-making racket: Justice Hemant Gupta of Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that there is a racket running in the country in the pretext of bonded labour and such people are eating into money by taking advantage of "this bonded labour thing". (Swami Agnivesh vs Union of India).Justice Hemant Gupta said that bonded labourers are not actually bonded but are paid money for work and then resign."Do you know who are bonded labourers. They are not bonded. They take money and come there and are engaged by brick kilns. They come from backward areas. They take money and eat the money and then resign. This is a racket. These labourers only take advantage of this bonded labourer thing," he remarked..Do you know who are bonded labourers. They are not bonded. They take money and eat the money and then resign.Justice Hemant Gupta .The remarks were made while hearing a case filed by the now deceased social activist Swami Agnivesh back in 2012.Agnivesh in his PIL sought intervention from the court in the nature of a direction to the Jammu police to investigate rape and other offences alleged by a bonded labourer.The plea claimed that a bonded labourer was repeatedly raped by the owner of the construction unit after her husband had escaped from the facility.He also sought investigation to identify other bonded labourers in the State of Jammu and Kashmir and to ensure their release and rehabilitation.When the case was taken up by the top court initially, it had directed registration of First Information Report The lawyer for the petitioner, Advocate Pooja Sharma, submitted on Wednesday that many of them were victims of sexual harassment and they had not been paid any compensation even after 10 years.However, the standing counsel for Jammu and Kashmir, Taruna A Prasad informed the court that FIR was registered and probe was initiated too but the victim had gone untraceable leading to a closure of the case in 2018.The Court also noted that the government has filed a detailed response citing several aspects. "The State will take remedial steps if any required under law," the bench said disposing of the matter.