NHRC flags gaps in detection of bonded labour in Gujarat, plans advisory and SOP

Gandhinagar, Sep 3 (IANS) The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has decided to work towards a standard operating procedure (SOP) for identifying bonded labour in Gujarat after finding that official inspections may fail to detect cases involving migrant workers who have already left the workplace by the time authorities conduct an inquiry.

NHRC Chairperson Justice V. Ramasubramanian said the issue emerged during a hearing of 27 alleged bonded labour cases in Gandhinagar on Thursday, when the Commission examined reports submitted by District Magistrates and heard officials, including the Gujarat Labour Secretary and District Magistrates from the concerned districts.

In all 27 cases, the district authorities had reported that there was no bonded labour.

However, Justice Ramasubramanian said the Commission found that the reports had to be viewed in the context of the timing of inspections, particularly because many of the workers involved were migrants employed in seasonal industries.

“The reports were not wrong, factually, they were right, but there are some missing links,” he added.

According to the Chairperson, workers who had complained had often left the workplace by the time the complaint reached the authorities and an inspection team was sent.

“This created a gap between the complaint, the demand for an action-taken report and the eventual inspection,” he said.

Justice Ramasubramanian said several cases involved migrant workers recruited through intermediaries.

“In some instances, owners of brick kilns had acknowledged paying advance money to brokers to bring workers from outside the state,” he emphasised.

The Commission highlighted the distinction between the common understanding of an advance payment and the legal indicators of bonded labour.

An advance does not by itself establish that workers are free from bondage if it is accompanied by conditions requiring them to work for a specified period or produce a specified quantity of work.

“If a person is hired upon payment of an advance money, if that advance money is more than the minimum wage, you presume that it is not a case of bonded labour. But in law, if somebody is hired by payment of advance money with the conditions that they must work for three months, six months, produce so much, in law there is a presumption of bonded labour,” Justice Ramasubramanian added.

The Chairperson said authorities needed to consider such legal indicators while examining complaints, rather than relying only on whether workers were physically present when an inspection was conducted.

The Commission said it had sensitised the authorities to deal compassionately with affected families, including women and children, and to consider indicators of bondage while handling such complaints.

Justice Ramasubramanian also said the Commission would work on an advisory on the issue.

He noted that the Union government had issued a standard operating procedure on bonded labour in May this year, while state authorities had raised some concerns regarding its implementation.

“We said we will take note of that, and comprehensive guidelines can be issued by us,” he said.

The NHRC’s decision follows its two-day camp sitting and open hearing in Gujarat, during which it also held discussions with senior state government officials on human rights issues.

The Commission’s focus on preventive identification is significant to the handling of seasonal migrant labour complaints, as the disappearance of workers from a site before inspection can otherwise make it difficult for authorities to establish the circumstances in which they were recruited and employed.

–IANS

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