Three workers from South 24-Parganas were “rescued” by Tamil Nadu police from a factory compound in Tirupur district on Tuesday night following an alert from their Bengal counterparts and days after one of the workers had had his fingers “crushed” under a machine.

The workers — a man, his wife and his younger brother — have alleged that they were underpaid and physically abused by two labour contractors at the factory in Kangayam town.

The contractors also allegedly said they would not allow the group to return home to Bengal unless “Rs 30,000 was sent to an account”.

The alert from Bengal police went after the alleged victims called up their family members back home and sought help.

As a “punishment” for letting word out, the accused allegedly dragged the younger brother near a conveyor belt machine and ran the belt over his right hand on September 25.

The owner of the factory, which makes coir ropes and mats from coconut husk, has denied the allegations. “It was an accident, according to eyewitness accounts. I rushed him to a hospital immediately. A plastic surgery was done. He is recovering now,” he told Metro over the phone on Wednesday. He also denied the allegations of physical abuse and underpayment.

Disha Mittal, the police superintendent of Tirupur district, said: “The local police went to the factory site on Tuesday night. There was nothing to suggest that the group was wrongfully confined. A suo motu case has been registered against two accused, a labour-in-charge and the factory owner, under sections 287 (negligent conduct with respect to machinery) and 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) under the Indian Penal Code).”

A prima facie probe suggests that the “right index and middle finger were damaged by a conveyor machine,” said Mittal.

When Metro called up the elder brother on Wednesday, he said: “We have been rescued from the accommodation near the factory and taken to a hotel. We have tried telling the local police everything. But there is a language barrier. We want to return home safely but my brother has suffered permanent damage to his right hand. We also want compensation.”
Mittal, the police superintendent, discounted the language barrier, saying the cops had arranged for an interlocutor.

A family member of the brothers had approached Jibantala police station in South 24-Parganas with a written complaint on September 27, on the basis of the allegations of the group in Tamil Nadu. The police are said to have refused to register an FIR, citing “lack of jurisdiction”.

This newspaper has a copy of the written statement the relative wanted to submit to police.

The same cops swung into action and burnt the midnight oil to trace the location of the alleged victims and coordinate with their Tamil Nadu counterparts apparently after a prod from Kamanasish Sen, the police superintendent of Baruipur police district, who this newspaper contacted on Tuesday afternoon. “Please ask the complainant to get in touch with me. I will do the needful,” Sen had told Metro on Tuesday.

According to the rulebook, any police station in India can draw a “zero FIR” for registering a case that has not happened in their jurisdiction. Once the jurisdiction is ascertained, the case can be forwarded to the police station concerned

Asked why a “zero FIR” was not lodged, the officer-in-charge of Jibantala police station, Samaresh Ghosh, said: “The complainant had come with a photocopy of the complaint. He was been asked to come with the original written complaint.”

Both contractors accused of the atrocities are from Bengal and one of them is a distant cousin of the two brothers.

During the multiple calls the alleged victims made to their family members, they could not provide their specific location in Tamil Nadu.

The cops in South 24-Parganas traced the location by tracking the phone numbers, the bank account and the report of a nursing home where one of the alleged victims was treated at after the “accident”.

The elder brother had also shared with this newspaper what he said was the report. “Right middle finger plus index finger crush injury,” says the “final diagnosis” in the report.

The alleged victims left in a bus on August 8 with scores of other workers, the statement shared with this newspaper by the family member says.

The incident underscores the pitiable conditions in which many workers from Bengal are forced to work outside the state.

“The pandemic has narrowed opportunities and made things worse. People are so desperate for work that they are ready to accept anything that comes their way,” said Kakali Das of Goranbose Gram Bikash Kendra, a Canning-based NGO that helped the family of the workers in South 24-Parganas in seeking redress from police.

“Cyclone Amphan and the lockdown have robbed us of everything. A maternal cousin offered jobs in a factory in Tamil Nadu,” another brother of the alleged victims who lives in South 24-Parganas told Metro.

The officer-in-charge of Jibantala police station said the primary focus was on the “safe return of the workers”.

“If they want, they can file a fresh complaint with us. We will then register a case and transfer it to the police station under whose jurisdiction the area falls,” he said.