Building a Wider
Horizon With Labour
For prosecuting one under the provisions of the said Act, the prosecution needs to establish any of the conditions which are there in clause (g) of Section 2 defining Bonded Labour System. It is never the case of the prosecution that work was being taken from the girl on account of any of the reasons mentioned in Section 2(g) of the Act and therefore, the offence under Sections 16 and 18 of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act never gets attracted. Similarly, no offence seems to have been made out either under Section 23 or under Section 26 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 as it has never been the case of the prosecution that the girl was being forced to work in the house of the petitioner, rather the circumstances appearing in the case would go to suggest that the girl was doing household work voluntarily. At the same time, it has never been the case of the prosecution that the girl had been employed to do hazardous work and as such, the offences under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 never gets attracted.
