On April 5, 129 bonded labourers were rescued from a brick kiln in northern India.
The trafficker who owned the brick kiln targeted individuals from a scheduled caste community who were struggling financially and offered them a loan in exchange for working at his brick kiln. Because the families were in urgent need, they agreed to work and were tricked into taking on a debt they could never repay.
Once they began working for the trafficker, he would falsify their accounts so that instead of paying off the debt, they continued to owe more.
Anyone who questioned the trafficker’s collection process was ruthlessly punished.
The families lived at the brick kiln in cramped huts without proper sanitation. They could not leave the facility without being accompanied and if they spoke to outsiders, their families’ safety was threatened.
Members of the local Justice Hub got to work making connections and building trust within the community, collecting evidence to share with local authorities. Some accounts were as follows:
- One victim shared that she worked day and night while pregnant and lost her baby because she was not allowed to access a hospital for delivery.
- Another victim shared that her husband was locked in dark, solitary confinement for 24 hours after voicing concern about the debt never ending.
- Another victim shared that he was not given adequate cooking materials to make food for his children and struggled to feed them.
- Another victim shared that they were forced to drink contaminated water and give this water to their children as well, which led to multiple bouts of sickness.
The Justice Hub partners handed this evidence to local authorities, who used this information to conduct a rescue that freed 129 people who had been forced to live in the prison of modern slavery.
