Palghar News: 19-Year-Old Worker Kidnapped, Assaulted For Demanding Wages; Farm Owner, Associates Booked

A 19-year-old man from Maharashtra’s Palghar was kidnapped and tortured by his former employer for demanding his unpaid wages on Sunday. Police said the man and his family had worked as bonded labourers at a sugarcane farm in Solapur for four months and were paid only a fraction of their dues.

According to the FIR, the victim and his family were engaged in cutting sugarcane crops at the farm between October 2022 and February this year. They were promised a payment of Rs 6,87,500 but received only Rs 1,69,000.

Police said the farm owner and his associates lured the victim to Mastan Naka in the Manor area of Palghar on the pretext of paying the remaining amount on Wednesday. They then abducted him in a car and took him to the farm owner’s house in Karmala, Solapur, where they held him captive for three days and assaulted him brutally.

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The accused also hurled casteist slurs at him and threatened him with dire consequences if he approached the police. On November 3, they dumped him near his village and fled.

The victim sustained injuries on his head, face, chest and limbs. He lodged a complaint with the Manor police station on Sunday, following which the police launched a hunt for the accused, reported news agency PTI.

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Police registered a case against the farm owner and two others for offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act.