For 20 years after she married
her husband, Leelu Bai—a woman from India’s
Thane District—went to work in the house of her husband’s landlord every day at
6:00 a.m. After cleaning and fetching water, Leelu would go to work on the
farm, cutting and threshing until 7:00 p.m. or later. When the sun went
down, she would sometimes be called back to the landlord’s home to
clean and wash again. Only after the landlord’s home was in acceptable
condition was Leelu allowed to return to her own home to feed and care for her
family.
As described by Anti-Slavery
International, the family of Leelu’s husband had been bonded to the
same landlord for three generations. They were indebted to the landlord for
loans taken out to pay for marriages, illnesses, education and necessities of
survival. The family’s landlord forbade them from working for any other
landlords, and beatings were an ever-present threat.
Bonded labor, according to
Anti-Slavery International, is the modern world’s most widely used method of
enslaving people. A $30 debt can result in four years of bonded labor.
