Mob assaults NGO members who rescued bonded labourers

Bengaluru: A convention hall in North Bengaluru’s Kodigehalli was attacked by a mob of 50 in numbers around 1.15 pm on Saturday and attacked six members from a NGO which had helped the district administration rescue 43 bonded workers from a block furnace in Bagalur. The workers were sheltered at the convention hall. 

The mob blamed the NGO for converting the workers to Christianity forcefully. The NGO denied the allegation and said the mob was sent by the proprietors of some block furnaces. Police hurried to the spot and sped off the NGO members to safety. No case was filed by the police. 

The workers, hailing from towns in Odisha’s Balangir region, were first approached by a broker who guaranteed them occupations in Bengaluru, accommodation and reasonable wages. They were conveyed to the city five months back and constrained into bonded labour. NGO members told the police they were being targeted by the proprietors of block furnaces as they had saved numerous bonded workers from them.

In a joint activity on March 22, the Bengaluru North subdivision of the district administration, the Bagalur police and the NGO International Justice Mission (IJM) safeguarded the workers. The district administration sheltered the workers at the convention hall and were in process of sending them back to their homes. The NGO’s volunteers, alongside locale authorities, were giving over discharge endorsements to the workers to help in their restoration when the mob barged inside.