Potato Farm Horror: Agents abused, pushed child labour victim into prostitution

A day after 11 children were rescued from Pehalwan potato farm at Brindpur village in Kapurthala, horrific details emerged on Monday. Two agents who are accused of trafficking the children from Bihar had sexually abused one of the victims, besides pushing her into prostitution, said sources.

Held once, kingpin back to old ways

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• Bigan Rai, the trafficker accused of exploiting children at a Kapurthala potato farm, was arrested by the Bihar Police in April 2022
• The same year, he was named as kingpin in child labour cases after raids at several potato farms in Kapurthala
• A repeat offender, Rai reportedly kept trafficking minors from Bihar to employ them in Kapurthala farms

Two FIRs have been registered against the accused, identified as Bigan Rai and Jinesh Rai, both brothers, in Bihar. They are absconding.

The sources said on the complaint of the 15-year-old victim’s mother, an FIR was registered at Mahila police station in Sitamarhi, Bihar, on December 1. The case was filed under Sections 70 (2) (gang rape), 95 (hiring, employing, engaging or using a child for sexual exploitation or pornography), 115 (2) (voluntarily causing hurt to another person), 126 (2) (wrongful restraint), 127 (2) (wrongful confinement), and 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy) of the BNS; Sections 4 and 6 (penetrative sexual assault) of the POCSO Act, Sections 75 and 79 (exploitation of child employees) of the JJ Act; and Sections 3, 4 and 5 (prostitution) of the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act.

In her complaint, the mother alleged that Bigan Rai and his brother approached her and her daughter on August 19 this year, and lured them into going with them to Pehalwan farms for harvesting potato crop at Rs 15,000 per month. She alleged Bigan and Jinesh made them work 16 hours a day and beat them up if they refused or asked them to send them home.

The complainant alleged the duo finally let her off in September, but held her daughter captive at the farm and abused her and eventually pushed her into prostitution. She said her daughter managed to call her one day, following which she went to the farm to rescue her, but she was beaten up and threatened of dire consequences by the accused.

The mother returned to Sitamarhi on November 20 and approached the police. Finally, after an FIR was registered and the Bihar police contacted their Punjab counterparts. The farm was raided on Sunday and the victim along with 10 other children was rescued.

Deep Karan Singh, DSP, Kapurthala, said, “The sexual abuse victim is currently undergoing medical examination. We are completing legal formalities before handing her over to her family. The other children have been sent with their guardians who had come from Bihar. All FIRs in Bihar were registered against the contractor. We can’t act against the owner on basis of those FIRs. Bigan and his brother are absconding.”

The DSP said this was the second time a case of child labour had surfaced at the same farm. Earlier on November 21, a raid was conducted by the police and officials of the Labour Department at the farm and an FIR was registered against its owner, he added.