MIRPURKHAS: The Mirpurkhas district and sessions court on Thursday set free 24 bonded labourers recovered by the Kot Ghulam Mohammad police in a raid on the farmlands owned by Amir Khan and Ghulam Mohammed a day earlier.

The raid was conducted on a directive of the court after a peasant, Bekho Kohlhi, filed an application stating that his 24 family members and relatives had been held in bonded labour by the landowners.

He stated that the landowners were not paying their wages and denying their share in the crop as per the Tenancy Act, besides restricting their movement to the farmlands.

The court ordered the Tando Mohammad Khan police to conduct a raid on the farmlands and recover the peasants if found there.

On Wednesday, the police recovered the peasants and produced them in court, which set them free.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2014