New Delhi, July 15: Supreme Court today expressed shock at the brutal manner in which the hands of two labourers were chopped of by a contractor in Odisha and sought a report from the state authorities on long-term measures taken to protect the interests of migrant labourers.

A bench headed by Justice T.S. Thakur observed that the gruesome incident might perhaps have not occurred even in the most primitive societies of the world.

“Madam, what is happening? What type of country we are living in? This type of incidents does not happen even in the most primitive societies,” the bench told counsel Kirti R. Mishra, who appeared for the Odisha government.

The apex court asked the authorities to file an affidavit on the long and short-term measures undertaken by the state to prevent recurrence of such incidents.

The bench was not impressed with the claim of the state that it had sanctioned about Rs 7 lakh compensation to each of the two labourers — Dayalu Nial, 19, and Nilambar Dhangdamajhi, 40, — who hail from Kalahandi.

The court was of the view that the gruesome incident was perhaps not an isolated incident and there might be more such cases that have gone unreported. The bench said the authorities should not wait and watch till the time when newspapers start reporting such incidents.

The gruesome incident occurred on December 15 last year when the duo’s hands were chopped off by a contractor and his men, after 10 of their co-labourers escaped their trafficking as bonded labourers to the neighbouring Ranga Reddy district in Telangana.

On February 7 this year, the apex court had taken suo moto cognisance of the incident on the basis of news reports and sought a reply from the State. Simultaneously, advocate Radhey Shyam Jena had filed a PIL bringing to the court’s notice the incident and the massive exploitation of the labour force in Odisha.

Justice Thakur asked the state whether inspections were being conducted by the state labour department to ascertain whether the labourers were exploited by the contractors in violation of the labour laws and the Inter State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979.

The court today also sought independent reports from the member secretaries of the Odisha and Telangana legal services authorities on exploitation of migrant labourers in their respective states.

According to Jena and certain brick kiln unions that have filed intervention application in the matter, many labourers from Odisha are subjected to inhuman living and working conditions as the authorities have failed to take action against the erring contractors/middlemen.

Most of these impoverished labourers are illegally trafficked from Odisha’s poverty stricken districts of Balangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi and Bargarh, to various states, particularly Telangana, to work as bonded labourers in violation of the statutory rules, the petitioner said.

In its affidavit, the state government said seven persons had been arrested by the police in connection with the chopping incident. Of these, six have been remanded in judicial custody while one had been sent to a remand home as he was a minor.