Building a Wider
Horizon With Labour
The Court held that The allegation made against the petitioners must attract the definition of "bonded labour system" which means the system of forced, or partly forced labour under which debtor enters or has or is presumed to have entered into an agreement with the creditor to the effect that in the event of failure of the debtor to repay the debt obtained by him or by any of his lineal ascendants or descendants for any economic consideration received by him he would render bonded labour on behalf of the debtor. In the instant case, as noted the petitioners are said to have offered to the parents of the children advance of Rs. 1, 000/-, Rs. 2, 000, Rs. 1, 650/- and the like and asked them to send their children to graze cattle. There was no debt or liability incurred by the parents, thus no creditor-debtor relationship between the parents of the boys and the petitioner-accused. Thus the Court held that while such exploitation of children could be prosecuted according to the provisions of some other law, the provisions under the Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act did not apply to this case. The proceedings before the petitioner-accused were quashed.
