Judical Action to end Bonded Labour - Human Rights Commission ...

The reports submitted to the court in compliance with its directives, which have been
appended to the judgment, throw considerable light on the plight of the bonded labour at
brick-kilns.
Report by Mr Khalil-ur-Rahman Ramday
In his report, the Advocate-General, Mr Khalil-ur-Rahman Ramday, first described
the working of a brick-kiln and the jobs performed by various categories of workers and then
argued that the system of peshgi (advance payments against wages) ìappears to the root of
almost all the evils in this industryî. His other findings were that the workersí wages needed
to be rationalized, working conditions at brick-kilns needed to be brought at par with other
industries and social security benefits extended to brick-kiln workers; child labour at brick-kiln
had to be stopped forthwith and the workers needed to be protected against physical
violence.
His recommendations were:
� A law should be made to abolish bonded labour not only in the brick-kiln industry
but in all walks of life, to extinguish all peshgis and the rights and liabilities
accruing thereform, and to make the giving and receiving of peshgi in future an
offence.
� Prohibition of child labour should be strictly enforced inter alia in the brick-kiln
industry.
� The relevant labour laws should be extended to the brick-kiln industry.
� Supervisory committees should be set up at the tehsil level to ensure
implementation.
� A national commission should be set up to suggest further remedial measures
not only for the brick-kiln industry but also for all other areas where labour is
bonded.
� The police should be instructed not to register cases against brick-kiln employers
and employees without the permission of the district SP.
Report by Mr Abdus Sattar Najam, Advocate
On behalf of the LHCBA, Mr Abdus Sattar Najam submitted two reports. In the first
report, he informed the court of the bonded labour cases that had come up before the Lahore
High Court earlier. In one case, the petitioner was Rehmat Masih. A court bailiff recovered 89
detainees, some of whom had been brutally tortured. Justice Fazal Karim ordered their
release.
The fate of five other habeas corpus petitions was different. Justice Sheikh Riaz
Ahmad assigned the task of inquiry to an Assistant Sub-inspector (ASI) of Police (instead of
a court bailiff), who rejected the workersí allegation of detention. The judge accepted the
ASIís version, blamed the workers for exploiting the courts and dismissed the habeas corpus
petitions.
Mr Najam prayed the court not to see the instant case as a single and isolated
incident but to take it as part of a large legal and social problem of bonded labour that was
particularly rampant in the brick-kiln industry and only long-term measures could solve it.
He made two more points: first, that while the constitution prohibited bonded labour,
punishment under penal laws was only one monthís imprisonment; secondly, the Factory Act
was extended to the brick-kiln industry in 1971 but was not enforced.
--- v ---