BADIN: Badin second additional district and sessions judge Syed Ikramullah Shah on Friday set free 50 bonded labourers, including women and children, after recording their statements.

The 50 members of peasant families were recovered in two separate raids carried out by the Tando Ghulam Ali police a day earlier on the court’s orders.

Forty-four peasants were recovered in the raid on the agricultural lands owned by Rafique Qadiani in Ghulam Hyder Jarwar village of Matli taluka on a complaint filed by their relative, Ramchand Kolhi.

In the other raid, carried out on the farmlands owned by Yaqoob Arain and Tariq Arain on the complained filed by Soortiyo Kolhi, six peasants were recovered.

The complainants stated that their relatives were being paid no wages or the share in crop under the Tenancy Act and their movement was restricted unlawfully.

All the recovered peasants were produced before the judge on Friday to record their statements. The judge set them free and ordered the landowners to move the appropriate forum for settlement of the peasants’ accounts.

MIRPURKHAS: The Mirpurkhas district and sessions court also ordered release of 10 bonded labourers after recording their statements on Friday.

The peasants were produced in the court by the Dilber Mahar police, who had recovered them in a raid on the farmlands of Mohammed Mangrio near Balochabad on Thursday.

In their statement recorded at the court, the peasants said they had been kept in illegal confinement and denied their rightful share in crop, wages and other facilities by the land owner.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2014