Extreme poverty forces Maharashtra tribals to lease children to goatherds for money

Mumbai: Members of a tribal community in Nashik facing livelihood crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic ‘handed over’ their children to goatherds for up to Rs 10,000 a year to work as labourers, police said on Sunday.

“The matter came to light after an 11-year-old girl working as a labourer died recently”, they said, adding that a case of murder has been registered in this connection.

The Nashik rural police have so far rescued eight such children from neighbouring Ahmednagar in Maharashtra.

“Two persons have been arrested in connection with the murder case and three others held under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act-1976”, a senior official said.

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“On 27 August the girl was found lying unconscious outside a tribal community camp where 12 families were staying in temporary sheds on a roadside at Ubade village in Ghoti area on Sinnar road”, he said.

“Somebody had left the girl outside the camp”, he said.

“The police and the girl’s relatives later rushed her to a hospital where she died during treatment on 3 September”, he said.

“During the enquiry, the police came to know the girl and her 10-year-old brother were handed over to goatherds in Ahmednagar”, the official said.

“The girl used to come to meet her parents once or twice a year. She had been unconscious since 21 August and was admitted to hospitals in Ahmednagar and Pune apparently after a snakebite and finally sent to her parents”, he said.

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Nashik rural Superintendent of Police Sachin Patil took serious cognisance of the issue and asked his team to conduct a detailed investigation into it.

“The police found that at least 11 such children, aged 6 to 15, were given by their family members to goatherds in Ahmednagar”, the official said.

After the girl was found unconscious, the Ghoti police initially registered an FIR against unidentified persons under Indian Penal Code Section 307 (attempt to murder).

Later, it was converted to a case of murder, the official said, adding that two persons were arrested.

“The final cause of the death was awaited”, he said.

 “We are waiting for a medical opinion in the case, but any kind of sexual assault has been ruled out,” a police official said on condition of anonymity.

After this incident, the Nashik police with the help of their Ahmednagar counterparts have so far rescued eight minor children from goatherds, another official said.

“An investigation revealed parents of these children gave them to goatherds through agents for getting up to 10,000 a year and a goat/sheep in return”, the official said.

“The children were deployed for guarding sheep and goats”, he said.

Asked about children being used for such jobs, the official said, “if an adult is kept at work, he would have to be paid Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 per month besides food and accommodation.”

“But, the logistics for children would be comparatively less and they would require a small place to stay”, he said.

The official said while enquiring with the parents of such children, they came to know these people were jobless due to the COVID-19 pandemic and did not have adequate food.

Before the pandemic, they used to go to brick kilns and do odd jobs at sugarcane farms.

“But, during the pandemic they did not find jobs to sustain their livelihood and handed over their children to goatherds,” he said.

“Police are searching for the agents involved in such activities and goatherds who used the minors as labourers”, he said.

“The official said they are also searching for some more children and collecting data about such minors to rescue them with the help of NGOs”, he said.

“So far, two separate offences under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act have been registered in this connection at Sangamner in Ahmednagar”, the official said.

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