Deposit Rs 3.5 lakh to rehabilitate bonded child labourers, court directs accused

A Delhi court on Saturday directed a man accused of employing seven minor children as bonded labourers to deposit Rs 3.5 lakh (Rs 50,000 per child) with the Child Welfare Committee for their rehabilitation, while granting him bail.

The order assumes significance since the Indian Penal Code (IPC) does not speak of imposing such a condition while granting bail to an accused. But in the interest of justice, the court found a way in the Juvenile Justice Act to slap the condition.

Moved by the plight of the destitute children pushed into forced labour, Additional District Judge (ADJ) Kamini Lau called it “ironical” that though the offence of child labour could fetch a maximum punishment of seven years in jail, legal provision made the crime bailable.

The court’s observation came while deciding the bail plea of Mohammed Zunaid, who was arrested on December 19 after police and members of the Child Welfare Committee and NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan conducted a raid at his factory on DBG Road. Seven children in the age group of 7-14 years were rescued.

Zunaid sought bail on grounds that offences under which he was booked were bailable and that he had no criminal history.

But the prosecutor opposed his application, contending that the minors were engaged with severe restrictions on movements and kept as bonded labourers. They were made to work under unhygienic conditions on meagre wages in a place with poor sanitary conditions, thereby committing serious human rights and child rights violations, the prosecutor said.

ADJ Lau found substance in the prosecutor’s contentions. She noted that being a signatory to the International Conventions on Human or Child Rights, India had to take effective steps to implement these international resolutions by enacting appropriate legislations to prevent, check and punish such violations. “Indian courts cannot be oblivious to the aforesaid terms and are under an obligation to ensure the proper implementation of such legislations in letter and spirit,” ADJ Lau said.

Restricted under the provisions of IPC, the judge said she could rely on Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Child Act, Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, and the Child Labourer Prohibition Act to impose “special conditions” while granting bail to Zunaid.

Besides furnishing a personal and surety bond of Rs 10,000 each for bail, the court directed Zunaid to deposit Rs 3.5 lakh in a fund that would be used to rehabilitate the rescued children. The court asked the area magistrate to monitor utilisation of the fund.