Gujarat: Labourers 'chained to a motorbike, forced to dig well’ in Surendranagar; cops arrests 2

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Indian Express. According to the report, the incident took place in Khakhrali village where four men, including a Dalit, were allegedly forced to dig a well. After the labourers expressed their unwillingness to do so, they were allegedly held captive, and chained to a motorbike at night, so that they can't escape.

On Tuesday morning, both farmer Vanraj Govaliya and his partner Allanur Kathat were formally arrested, said Superintendent of Police (SP) of Surendranagar district Girish Pandya. A case was registered against the farmers duo at Thangadh police station, and they were detained by the police on Monday under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the report added. ALSO READ: India's global exports in labour-intensive sectors declined in last 5 years: FIEO A dalit, Mukesh Rathod (34), filed a complaint against the farmers after which an FIR was registered.

Rathod hails from Shethvadala village in Jamnagar district’s Jamjodhpur taluka. Report says that on 24 September, Rathod had come to Rajkot in search of work. He was offered work for ₹500 a day along with lodging and boarding facilities by a CNG rickshaw driver who identified himself as ‘Rajubhai’ on 26 September.

Rathod added that he got into Raju’s auto-rickshaw, where he mwt three other men inside, identified as Ravi Bhaduria, Vinod and Raju. All of them were taken to Khakhrali where they were received by Kathat. Rathod in the complaint said that when they said Kathat that they wanted to leave as they did not like the work on September 27, but Kathat asked them to pay ₹2,500 each to him as he paid Rajubhai ₹2,500 for hiring each of them.