Patna, December 25
The Bihar Labour Commissioner has reportedly held Raghuraj Singh, brother of Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, union rural development minister and senior RJD leader, guilty of violating labour laws.
The development came few weeks after a media report highlighted on how children were being used to till land owned by the family of the union rural development minister in place of oxen in Vaishali.
While the minister had dismissed the report as “concocted” one, the Nitish government subsequently had ordered an inquiry, which finally found the minister’s brother guilty of using child labour.
The deputy chief minister Sushil Modi today said that the inquiry report has already been sent to the state advocate-general. “The advocate-general will now take the legal view that under which section provisions case can be lodged against the guilty,” Modi added.
As the Nitish government looked determined to pursue the case, any action against his brother will obviously mean a big loss of face for Raghuvansh Prasad Singh.
On his part, Modi defended the government’s stand stating that after visiting the spot the officials of the labour department found the use of child labour to be true.
The use of human beings in place of oxen and tractors, however, is a common practice in the riverine belt of Bihar. The reported involvement of minister’s brother into such act again confirmed the prevalence of this deplorable act in some parts of the state.
