A very heart touching and emotional story came to light of a bonded labourer from West Bengal reuniting with his family members after 20 years. He was forced to work for twenty years as a bonded labour in Fatehpur village of Uttar Pradesh without wages.
It should be noted that the West Bengal Government consistently denies that any citizen from this state is in bondage in other states. It also denies that migrant workers are bonded in its state, even though bondage of migrant workers is a common occurrence in Bengal brick fields. A result of this denial is that it takes years for the Government to take action in any bonded labour case. PBKMS has been pursuing the case of Krishna Das (http://khetmajoorsamity.blogspot.com/2020/09/lockdown-woes-case-study-on-family.html) and his family for the past 3 years and we are yet to help them get rehabilitation funds under a Central Scheme. In the present case, mass organisations and NGOs had to step in to help the bonded labourer because the West Bengal Government denies the problem and therefore takes no action to help such people.
Mr. Gulu Mardi (on right) at the Kanpur Railway Station
The incident is as follows. Gulu Mardi, a resident of Balurghat in Dakshin Dinajpur, moved to Kanpur 20 years ago in search of work. He started working in a factory and became very friendly with a supervisor named Bhupendra Singh, a Thakur from Fatehpur. Gulu used to deposit all his earnings with this man. After 2 years when Gulu Mardi asked for his money, the supervisor told him that he had sent the money to his village and they would have to visit his village to take out the money.
When Gulu Mardi went to his village, Bhupendra Singh began beating him. He forcefully made him a bonded labour and refused to give any money. His enquiry about wages were met with threats from Bhupendra. At one time, Gulu alleges , Bhupendra Singh even hung him in a well for some hours when he asked for his money. Gulu tried to flee 2-3 times but got caught and got beaten so much that he lost all hope. Gulu Mardi was held for twenty years and made to work without any pay and was only given food twice a day.
During Covid-19 lockdown, Mr Prabhas Chandra, a resident of Ghatampur, needed a gardener for his school. Bhupendra sent him there to work on the condition that he (Bhupendra) would come every month to collect his wages, on the pretext of sending the wages to Gulu’s home. After a few months , one day, in July, when Gulu Mardi was crying, his co-worker, a security guard at school asked him the reason and Gulu Mardi told him the complete story. The security guard told this to Mr. Prabhas Chandra, who unsuccessfully filed a criminal complaint against Bhupendra Singh. However Bhupendra Singh proved too powerful , and no action was taken against him, but he at least stopped threatening Gulu and taking away his wages. They also contacted the Police station of Gulu Mardi's village near Balurghat. When police contacted his family members, they could not believe it as they thought him to be dead. His wife had even started wearing the garments of a widow . It was only after they saw him through a video call that they believed that Gulu Mardi was alive.
Ujjiban , an NGO in Dakshi Dinajpur, in the meantime was approached for help by the family who did not know how to bring him home. Gulu was too scared to come in a train himself and the family was also nervous about traveling to Kanpur. Paschim Banga Khet Majoor was approached by Ujjiban and then we took help from Mahesh, a social activist from Kanpur associated with NAPM. Mahesh arranged for Gulu to be enlisted as a bonded labour there and for criminal action against Bhupinder Singh. By this time , Ujjiban had organised for fund collection from amongst the villagers. To and fro train tickets were bought for his son and brother to pick up Gulu. They went to pick him up from Kanpur on 14th of October and they reached their village back on 17th October.
Gulu Mardi's son was very emotional on seeing his father's face after so many years and said that he didn't even remember his father's face as he was only six years old when his father left home in search of work. The people of his village welcomed him very happily and gave him a warm reception on his return after 20 years.
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