Jharkhand woman rescued from Gurgaon home after bonded labour complaint

Gurgaon: A 23-year-old woman from Jharkhand, allegedly trafficked to Delhi and forced into domestic work for nearly four years, was rescued from a house in Sector 40 on Friday.The rescue operation was carried out jointly by police, a naib tehsildar, a labour inspector and members of NGO Mission Mukti Foundation, after National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) sought immediate action on a complaint of alleged bonded labour and illegal confinement.NHRC wrote to city police and district authorities on Friday after receiving a complaint from the NGO stating that the woman — originally from Sahibganj district in Jharkhand — was allegedly brought to Haryana through a trafficking network about four years ago.According to the NGO, the woman was initially trafficked to Delhi by two people from her hometown and handed over to two placement agents in the city, including a woman agent. “She was arranged as a permanent domestic help at a house in Delhi, where she worked for nearly two years,” said Akshay Pandey of Mission Mukti Foundation, who was part of the rescue team.When she expressed her wish to return home, the agents allegedly persuaded her to stay on and later shifted her to a house in Sector 40, where she worked for another year.“Even when she repeatedly requested to be sent back, the agents kept making false promises. Since the employers had entered into an agreement with the placement agency and paid nearly Rs 40,000-50,000, they too wanted her to continue,” an NGO member told TOI. The woman had not seen her family in almost four years.Her mother eventually approached Jharkhand Bhawan in Delhi seeking help, following which Mission Mukti Foundation was contacted. The NGO, working with police and district officials, traced the woman and carried out Friday’s rescue.No case has been registered so far. The Sector 40 SHO said the woman is currently being questioned by the labour department as part of the inquiry, and the labour inspector is recording details related to the allegations.A police officer associated with the probe said the homeowners did not appear to be directly at fault at this stage, as the domestic worker was hired through a placement agency following standard procedures. It was also not immediately clear whether the woman made attempts on her own to contact her family or talk to her employers about her predicament. Allegations of trafficking, bonded labour and wrongful confinement are, however, being examined.