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Ten children were among the 12 people rescued from bonded labour in the Beed district in Maharashtra. All the victims, who are migrant labourers from Palghar near Mumbai, were found to be working in ‘inhuman conditions’ for several years, with advances of ₹5,000-10,000 paid to them at the time they joined work.
Among the victims was an 11-year-old girl who had been forced to work for over 18 months tending cattle and doing household chores. Another young girl had been held for the past three months, and a third had been trafficked to Pathardi taluka in Ahmednagar district for forced labour, officials said.
The rescue took place in Tagadgaon village in Shirur Kasar taluka.
Officials said that despite their advances being repaid through hard labour, the employees were not allowed to return home and that they were allegedly subjected to violence, including threats at knifepoint, and coercion using sickles whenever they attempted to escape.
It was only after one of the labourers managed to get in touch with a social worker in Palghar that authorities intervened. The social worker had approached Beed-based NGO Adhikar Mitra, who then alerted Tattvashil Kamble of the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA).
Beed district Collector Vivek Johnson then intervened, and a coordinated rescue operation was conducted with the involvement of the police, revenue department, Women and Child Development department, and the Unorganised Workers Cell.
A case has been registered against four persons under the provisions of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, and charges of trafficking in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
Published – October 11, 2025 03:12 pm IST
