Andhra Pradesh: Enslaved to repay a loan, boy left to die

A Yanadi tribal family forced into bonded labour at a duck farm. The mother, desperate for news of her nine-year-old son held as "collateral", was fed a string of lies by the employer. Bishop Thakur of the Indian Bishops’ Commission for Migrants: "Slavery, though officially illegal, remains a deep stain on the conscience of a country that presents itself as an economic powerhouse".

Tirupati (AsiaNews) – A duck farmer from Tirupati, in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, and his family have been arrested for keeping a tribal woman and her three children in bonded labour over a loan of 25,000 rupees (just over £250), holding her nine-year-old son as "guarantee" and later secretly burying his body in another state, claiming he had died of jaundice.

When the woman finally managed to collect enough money to repay the loan—despite the exorbitant interest demanded by the man—he told her the boy had run away. Only after a formal complaint and police interrogation did the farmer confess that the child had died and that he had buried the body near his in-laws’ house in Kanchipuram, in Tamil Nadu.

When police exhumed the boy’s body, his mother sat on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. Anakamma, her husband Chenchaiah, and their three children—members of the Yanadi tribal community—had worked for a year at the duck farm in Tirupati. Even after Chenchaiah’s death, the employer forced Anakamma and her children to continue working, insisting they could not leave because her husband had borrowed 25,000 rupees from him.

Authorities stated that Anakamma and her three children were subjected to long hours of labour. She had asked for a higher wage, but the farmer refused. When she insisted on leaving, he demanded 45,000 rupees in repayment—including 20,000 rupees in interest. She pleaded for ten days to raise the money, but was told she must leave one of her children as collateral. With no other option, she reluctantly agreed.

Anakamma occasionally spoke with her son by phone, during which he would beg her to come and get him, saying he was being overworked. The last time she spoke to him was on 12 April. In the final week of that month, she managed to raise the money and contacted the duck farmer, telling him she would come to collect her son. The man initially claimed the boy had been sent elsewhere. When she pressed for answers, he said the child was in hospital—and finally that he had run away. Fearing the worst, she turned to the local police with the help of tribal community leaders.

During questioning, the farmer admitted the boy had died and that he had secretly buried him in Kanchipuram. He, his wife, and their son were immediately arrested. Human rights activists report that the Yanadi tribal community is particularly vulnerable to bonded labour, and that 50 community members have recently been freed. “Usually, an advance payment is used to trap victims,” one activist explained.

Commenting on the case, Archbishop Victor Thakur of Raipur, a member of the Indian Catholic Bishops’ Conference (CCBI) Commission for Migrants, told AsiaNews: “This is a massive stain on our country—something completely unacceptable in a society that calls itself civilised and a global economic power. This atrocious, inhuman, and uncivil act should make us hang our heads in shame… Although such practices were outlawed in 1976, cases like this expose a deep-rooted malaise. The government must enforce the law with strength to deter any similar crimes in future.”

“It is inhuman,” Archbishop Thakur added, “that in the 21st century there are still people using others as slaves, condemning entire generations to bondage. Every person is created in the image of God, and this modern slavery is an affront to human dignity and a violation of fundamental rights—where the most marginalised, the most defenceless, the poorest are exploited.”