Disobedience of orders meant empty stomachs and beatings with a horse whip. | Photo Credit: Thinkstock

Bengaluru: 52 Dalit and tribal people, including 16 women and 4 children, were enslaved in a small shed in Karnataka for almost three years. They were forced to work as bonded labourers for 19 hours a day without any pay. On protesting, they were beaten up with a horse whip and abused sexually.

According to a report in News 18, the police received information about the bonded labour ring from a man who reached out to them for help after escaped by scaling a 12-feet wall. Raids were conducted at a small shed at Hassan area of Karnataka on Sunday.

The victims were living in the heavily guarded shed for three years in inhuman conditions. The newest victims had been living there for a month. Two six-year-old boys are the youngest victims in the case while the oldest is a 62-year-old man named Ganesha.

Describing the inhuman conditions in the shed, M Prathima from International Justice Mission, said that the labourers would complain at night that they needed to use the toilet as they were locked up during the night. A pipe was installed in a corner of the shed to be used for toilet purpose. Husbands would use a towel as a curtain to protect the privacy of their wives when the women had to use the toilet.

Reportedly, an official said that the case was worryingly unique because it targeted migrant workers and used a distressed agrarian economy and pre-meditated system of bondage. The police fear that there might be many more similar cases in the area.

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The accused have been identified as Munesha who was the main operator of the shed, Krishnegowda who was the owner of the land where the shed existed, Basavaraja, Pradeep and Nagaraja.

A senior official while talking about the working of the gang said that two auto drivers would target migrant workers from Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh at railway stations by offering them a day's work for Rs 600 or so. These migrants would later be captured and enslaved virtually. Once they were at the shed, they were stripped off all their belongings- clothes, identity cards, phones and money. They were also threatened that their attempts to escape would lead to violence.

The labourers would get three meals a day as 'payment'. The men would sometimes get local alcohol. Disobedience of orders meant empty stomachs and beatings with a horse whip. They would be shut in a shed guarded by four people during the night to prevent escape attempts. The beatings intimidated them from speaking about their plight.

Pratima said that the work relied on demand and supply basis. During the brick kiln season, they worked there. They were working at a ginger farm when they were rescued. Work days started at 3 am and continued till 10 in the night.

The police said that the two vehicles used by Munesha to transport the migrant workers from one work place to another have been seized.

An FIR has been registered under sections 323, 324 (wrongful confinement), 344 (theft), 356 (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Bonded Labour System (Abolition Act) and the SC, ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act). Two people have also been arrested in the case.