Three bonded labour victims rescued from cold storage at West Bengal’s Alipurduar

Three people, including two children, were rescued as bonded labour victims in Alipurduar district of West Bengal on Thursday (September 3, 2026).

The rescued group, one adult male and two children, were working in a cold storage facility. The children were 16 years old while the adult person was about 50 years old, rescuers said.

The adult victim, Kalipada Mondal, is from Nandakumarpur in the Sundarban region of South 24 Parganas. He was recruited by a local contractor through an advance-payment arrangement, with ₹25,000 reportedly paid as an advance and has been working for the past 25 years.

The two minors aged 16 years who were engaged without regular wages have been sent to a children’s home in Jalpaiguri district. They also are residents of Sundarbans.

After the rescue, an FIR was registered at Alipurduar police station under different sections of the Bonded Labour Act, 1972 and provisions of Bharatiya Nyay Samhita dealing with trafficking of persons.

The FIR dated September 3 stated that three persons, among which one adult and two minors who were trafficked and bonded there to work as labour illegally, with cash to their family by the contractor, without proper wages and facilities. The rescue was made from the premises of Gour Nitai Cold Storage situated at Purba Kathalbari of Alipurduar.

Two accused Shiburam Mondal and Abbas Sk have been booked in the FIR.

“Under the Bonded Labour Act, there is a provision for providing compensation to people rescued as bonded labour. We are waiting for the administration to issue release certificates so that the rescued can be provided compensation,” a social worker, who was involved in the rescue, said.

More than 45 persons, including several children, have been rescued as bonded labourers from brick kilns, clay pot making, cold storages and agro-food companies in West Bengal during the year.