PESHAWAR, Oct 1: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday set at liberty 25 bonded labourers, including 12 children, who were being detained illegally by the owners of a brick kiln in the Bannu district.

The bench, comprising Justice Khalida Rachied and Justice Qaim Jan Khan, disposed of a habeas corpus petition and ruled that bonded labour was unconstitutional and against the law.

During the last hearing of the petition, filed in the court by one of the detainees, the bench directed the SHO concerned to produce the labourers before the court.

On their production before the court on Tuesday, the labourers — seven men, six women and 12 children, belonging to five families — said their contractors had been keeping them in illegal confinement and had mistreated them. They added that the contractors had disconnected electricity supply to their quarters.

Advocate Qazi Abdul Basit appeared in the court for the petitioner and contended that no human being could be kept in illegal confinement under the constitution.

The owners of the kiln, Haji Akhter Zaman and Abdul Ayub, also appeared before the court, and informed the bench that the families had obtained from them advance wages to the tune of Rs49,800 on different occasions, including the marriage a labourer.

They said they had not kept the workers in illegal detention, and added that the labourers had to work in their kiln to return their loan.

The petitioner refuted their statement and stated that the labourers had not received any advance money from them. He added that they were kept in extremely inhuman conditions.

The court observed that as the contractors had not accepted that they had kept the workers in confinement, the detainees were at liberty to shift to a place of their choice.