On Friday, 11th November 2022, the Kathmandu police in Nepal informed that at least 38 Indian nationals, including children and women, working as bonded labourers in a brick factory were rescued. The Nepalese authorities carried out this operation in the Rautahat area of Nepal.
The rescue effort was carried out on Wednesday after authorities in the area received information about a group of Indians — 20 men and 18 women and children from Uttar Pradesh — who were being forced to work as bonded labourers at a brick plant in the district. To rescue them, a police squad was sent from the local police station.
A spokesperson of the Deputy Superintendent of Police at Rautahat said, “A total of 38 Indians working as bonded labourers in the brick factory have been rescued. They all hail from Uttar Pradesh.”
He added, “the rescued Indians were handed over to the Sashastra Seema Bal at Bairganiya in Bihar’s Sitamarhi district after the required legal and administrative paperwork.”
In Rautahat’s brick industry, hundreds of men and women from different districts of Uttar Pradesh are employed. While many people continue to work despite unfavourable working circumstances, some do so intermittently in search of better possibilities nearby. In 2013, 64 Indians, including 27 minors, working as bonded labourers in Southern Nepal were rescued by Nepalese authorities.
It is notable that the Indo-Nepal border was in the news recently because of the demographic changes in the interior and border parts of Nepal. The increasing Muslim population in this area has been an issue of concern.