NHRC has received over 14,600 cases of bonded labour since its inception and this "anathema of civilised humanity" still persists in many sectors, chairperson Justice (retd) H L Dattu today said.
He was addressing a gathering on the inauguration of a two-day 'National Seminar on Bonded Labour' hosted by the National Human Right Commission at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library here.
"Bonded labour is one of the worst violations of human rights and also the dignity of life. It is a crime against humanity, anathema of civilised humanity, denial of inalienable human rights, antithesis of decent work and a blot on civilised society that jolts the conscience of the entire nation," he said.
The rights panel chief also shared the number of complaints on bonded labour received by NHRC since 1993 and said it was "alarming".
"From its inception till January 31 this year, 14,614 cases have been received by us, out of which 13,266 have been disposed of."
Maximum violation cases were reported from Odisha (9,983) out of which 9,899 have been disposed of, according to a report released by the NHRC.
The Commission has recommended compensation in cases of bonded labour and also amendments to several provisions in Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, Dattu said.
"In order to monitor the compliance of recommendations on bonded labour, the Commission has also devised a detailed reporting questionnaire format and sent it to all the states/union territories. So far, the Commission has not received information from 12 states and 6 union territories," he added.
The NHRC chairperson also said it would be wrong to think that bonded labour is a thing of past, as it can be found even today in not only agriculture but also in other sectors of employment including brick kilns, stone quarries, salt fields, lather manufacturing units and so on.
"As long as there is poverty, unemployment, underemployment, landlessness, migration, indebtedness, the pernicious bonded labour system will continue," he lamented.
"The Commission has been receiving a spate of complaints from time to time regarding exploitation and harassment of people who have been victims of bonded labour system. Some of these complaints related to non-payment of wages or payment of wages lower than notified minimum wages," it said.
"The action and conduct of DMs in a large number of cases would amount to abatement of an offence as defined in Section 20 of the Act. In almost all cases, the DMs rest content by filing a prosecution for non-maintenance of records and registers," it said.
From January 2006 to December 31, 2015, as many as 25,477 bonded labourers were identified across the country. Only in 277 cases it reached to the stage of conviction, according to the report.
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