For years, Parveen* and his family were bonded to a brick kiln near Gaya, Bihar — not seasonal work, but a year-round cycle they couldn’t see a way out of. The wages were meager, and the highest price was paid by his children, who spent their days in the dust of the kiln instead of a classroom, robbed of one of the most basic rights of childhood: an education. Instead of spending their days learning and playing, they toiled endlessly in the dusty brick kiln. Parveen watched, believing he had no power to give his children a different life.
The rescue almost stalled before it began. When the Justice Hub team moved to free bonded laborers from the kiln in June of 2025, a jurisdictional dispute at the local police station threatened to delay them. The sub-divisional magistrate stepped in, ordering a joint inquiry with government and law enforcement officials, and the effort moved forward together. Over two days, the team and its government partners freed 9 families, including Parveen and his household. The team collected a signed labor contract as evidence and recorded statements from those freed, laying the groundwork for a legal case. Officials initially classified it as a wage dispute rather than bonded labor; in the meantime, each family received 5,000 rupees in immediate back wages and safe transport home.
That immediate relief was only the beginning. The family entered our aftercare program. Rather than simply providing assistance, the aftercare team equipped Parveen and his family: walking with them through counseling, teaching them their rights for the first time, and helping Parveen see that investing in his children’s education was the most important investment he could make.
[Stock photo above with students in a government school.]
The change that followed was concrete. Parveen secured stable employment at a tire company earning 18,000 rupees a month — enough for his family to live safely in their own home, free from the kiln that once controlled their lives. His wife built her own path forward too, joining a Jeevika Self-Help Group and gaining a renewed sense of purpose and financial independence.
Today, the sounds in their home aren’t the sounds of hardship. They’re the sounds of children laughing on their way to school each morning. Parveen’s story isn’t only about leaving bonded labor behind — it’s about a survivor restoring his family’s dignity. It’s a father who can finally look into his children’s eyes and see a future built on education, safety, and hope.
Aftercare staff with the daughters
Government primary school building
