SAGEER Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Poverty and destitution are almost perennial features of Indian rural life for large numbers of unfortunate ill-starred humans in this country and it would be nothing short of cruelty and heartlessness to identify and release bonded labourers merely to throw them at the mercy of the existing social and economic system which denies to them even the basic necessities of life such as food, shelter and clothing. It is obvious that poverty is a curse inflicted on large masses of people by our malfunctioning socio-economic structure and it has the disastrous effect of corroding the soul and sapping the moral fibre of a human being by robbing him of all basic human dignity and destroying in him the higher values and the finer susceptibilities which go to make up this wonderful creation of God upon earth, namely, man. It does not mean mere inability to buy the basic necessities, of life but it goes much deeper, it deprives a man of all opportunities of education and advancement and increases a thousand fold his vulnerability to misfortunes which come to him all too often and which he is not able to withstand on account of lack of social and material resources. We, who have not experienced poverty and hunger, want and destitution, talk platitudinously of freedom and liberty but these words have no meaning for a person who has not even a square meal per day, hardly a roof over his head and scarcely one piece of cloth to cover his shame. 'What use are 'identification' and 'release' to bonded labourers if after attaining their so-called freedom from bondage to a master they are consigned to a life of another bondage, namely, bondage to hunger and starvation where they have nothing to hope for - not even anything to die for - and they do not know whether they will be able to secure even a morsel of food to fill the hungry stomachs of their starving children, What would they prize more : freedom and liberty with hunger and destitution starring them, in the face or some food to satisfy their hunger and the hunger of their near and dear ones. even at the cost of freedom and liberty. The answer is obvious. It is therefore imperative that neither the Government nor the Court should be content with merely securing identification and release of bonded labourers but every effort must be made by them to see that the freed bonded labourers are properly and suitably rehabilitated after identification and release." - Opening words of Justice Bhagwati speaking for the bench in Neeraja Chowdhuri v State of M.P., 1984 AIR(SC) 1099.

(2.) We have heard learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned A.G.A.

(3.) This Habeas Corpus petition was filed on behalf of 44 labourers who were residents of different villages of districts Muzaffarnagar and Baghpat and who claim to be held in bondage by respondent no.5 Kailash Jain, at his brick-kiln, named the Kunal Brick Field, at village Uldpur (near Sakera Gaon), P.S. Inchauli, district Meerut. The petitioners claimed that they were not allowed to leave the premises and to work elsewhere, their accounts were also not completed and they were not paid their wages in time. Even if they fell ill they were not given medical aid, but were abused and forced to continue to work for the employer.