Cuttack, July 13: The issue of liberating victims of the medieval bartan system (a form of bonded labour) in the state has returned to Orissa High Court with a PIL seeking its intervention for release and rehabilitation of 369 bonded labour victims in Jagatsinghpur district.

The PIL, filed by human rights activist Baghambar Pattanaik, alleged that as many as 369 persons fell victim of the medieval bonded labour system because of inaction of the government authorities in releasing them.

On February 17, 2011, the state government had issued a notification for abolishing the practice of extracting work from barbers and washer men by upper caste families in Odisha under the age-old bartan system, for which they were paid a pittance of 15kg of paddy for a year.

The notification was issued following directions of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to stop the “illegal practice”.

“The Odisha Goti Mukti Andolan had identified and submitted the 369 cases of bartan victims along with affidavits. But the collector dismissed the cases and refuted existence of any bonded labour in Jagatsinghpur. By doing so, the collector allowed continuation of bartan in the district in violation of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976,” mentioned the petition, which was filed through advocate Kshirod Rout.

Pattanaik said the Orissa High Court had earlier directed the collectors of Puri, Khurda, Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur districts to identify, release and rehabilitate victims of bartan system. The petition was filed after the state government abolished the bonded labour system.

The state government, through its panchayati raj department, had directed all district collectors to instruct the field functionaries to ensure that such an evil practice is discouraged at all costs by taking action against the culprits.

Pattanaik, who is an advisor to the Odisha Goti Mukti Andolan, further alleged that the collector of Jagatsinghpur had not adhered to the guidelines of the panchayati raj department and it had not complied with the directions of the high court before refuting existence of bonded labour in the form of bartan in the district.

The NHRC had described this practice as “bonded debt” and “bonded labour” as defined under sections 2 (d), (e) and (g) of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976.

The NHRC also observed that “if the pledge of egalitarian society made in the Constitution of India is to be redeemed, the public servant entrusted with the task of implementing social welfare legislation shall have to imbibe the values of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity enshrined in the Preamble of the Constitution.”