Beed man booked as Palghar tribal forced into bonded labour goes missing

Palghar: A Beed resident has been booked for allegedly trafficking a tribal man from Palghar, holding him captive and forcing him into bonded labour, a police official said on Sunday.

The victim belongs to the Adivasi Katkari community and is a resident of Zap village in Dhopapada, the Palghar police station official said.

“As per the complaint, Beed resident Amol Dhotre came to Jawhar here on November 1 to recruit workers for his sugarcane field. He paid the victim Rs 80,000 in advance. However, enraged with some others from the village taking money and not reporting for work, the accused abducted the victim, took him to Beed and forced him to work as a bonded labourer,” the official said.

The victim continues to be missing and efforts are on to trace him, the official said, adding no arrest has been made so far.

Dhotre has been charged under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act for trafficking, unlawful compulsory labour, wrongful confinement and other offences on the complaint of the victim’s wife, the official added.