Two brothers held for employing tribals as bonded labourers

Police have arrested two brothers from a village in Maharashtra’s Thane district for allegedly employing a group of tribal persons as bonded labourers and subjecting them to physical abuse, an official said.

The accused are identified as Sanjay Shalin Patil (40) and his elder brother Vijay (45), who reside at Khoni village near Dombivli, he said.

”The accused employed members of the tribal Katkari community to carry out various tasks at their premises since the last 10 years. They did not allow them to go anywhere else for work.

They used to threaten the victims and at times even assault them. The accused also snatched away their important documents,” senior inspector Ashok Honmane of Manpada police station said.

Based on a complaint lodged by a local member of the Katkari community, a case was registered against the duo under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 374 (unlawful compulsory labour), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, he said.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Sunil Kurade was probing the crime, he said. Zonal Deputy Commissioner Sachin Gunjal assured the government committee on tribal welfare on Friday that the process to extern the accused duo would be initiated.