Breaking free of bonded labour, woman fights for others’ rights

Today, the mother of three is a community leader, helping people solve their problems while vociferously championing women’s rights and freeing bonded labourers. 

Gowri recalled the tipping point, when she decided to walk out of the miserable circumstance. “The owner of the woodcutting unit made us work from 6 am to 7 pm. During lunch, he would put sand into our food to make us return to work faster. Finally, when he beat my two-year-old daughter who accidently broke a tap, I tried to intervene but was beaten up. I had just delivered my third son and had sutures, which ruptured. I couldn’t work for days due to the pain,” she said, adding that her husband too worked in the same unit. 

Gowri then mustered the courage to approach officials, who rescued Gowri and her family in 2010 but didn’t provide a release certificate. “I was staying opposite the owner’s house and he continued to harass us. My fellow workers told me to accept the  situation,” she said. 

The determined mother, however, decided to campaign for her freedom and right to a life of dignity. “I kept approaching officials and petitioning them,” she said. Five years of petitioning resulted in the case being reconsidered and it was certified that it was bonded labour. “Apart from Gowri, seven other bonded labourers were rescued”, said Helen Barnabas, a social worker from International Justice Mission, who has been helping rescue and rehabilitate women. 

Gowri’s husband died because of a gastric condition in 2012, leaving her to fight for her freedom on her own. This long journey towards a life of dignity made she more confident, as she started helping other women from the locality. Gowri became the community leader, heading the Released Bonded Labourer Welfare Association’s Vellore chapter, a support group, and an ardent worker towards women’s rights in the locality.

“If people wanted to apply for Aadhaar Card or Voter’s ID, they would ask me since I had been to most government offices here. I started helping the people of my community. Today, I am happy, my children – two daughters and a son – are in school and I enjoy working for the community. At times, since our hut is just opposite that of the former employer, my children worry, since I am their sole parent. But we are in a much better place now,” she said.