In a harrowing case of bonded labour and extreme cruelty that has shocked the region, a 14-year-old boy from Bihar, identified as Santosh, was enslaved, maimed, and abandoned by his captors in Haryana. The teenager is currently battling severe trauma and physical disability at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) in Rohtak after his left arm was severed in a motorized fodder cutting machine (chaff cutter).
The ordeal began in May 2025, when Santosh ran away from his home in Bihar. His father eventually traced him and was bringing him back home by train. However, tragedy struck at the Bahadurgarh Railway Station in Haryana. Santosh stepped off the train to fetch water but missed reboarding as the train departed with his father. Stranded and vulnerable, he was allegedly lured by unidentified men with the promise of work but was instead taken captive and forced into bonded labour at an undisclosed location.
For months, the boy was subjected to grueling work in inhuman conditions. The situation turned catastrophic in late July when, while feeding grass into a mechanical chaff cutter, his arm got trapped and was severed from the elbow. Instead of rushing the bleeding child to a hospital, the “heartless” employer reportedly bandaged the wound crudely and abandoned him on a roadside in the Nuh district to die, likely to evade legal consequences.
Santosh was spotted wandering in agony by two schoolteachers on July 29, who immediately took him to the local police. After initial first aid in Nuh, he was referred to PGIMS Rohtak due to the severity of his injury. His brother, Jitender Kumar, who rushed to Rohtak after being notified by the police, has been pleading for justice and financial aid. “My brother was held captive and treated worse than an animal. We want the culprits to be hanged,” Jitender stated, noting that the family is struggling to afford even basic medicines and food during the treatment.
The case has drawn the attention of human rights advocates. David Sunder Singh, a panel advocate for the State Human Rights Commission, stated that the victim is eligible for immediate financial rehabilitation under bonded labour laws. The police have registered a case and are investigating to trace the location of the farm and the identity of the employer who enslaved the child.
