People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) v. Union of India & Ors. [(1998) 8 SCC 485]. The court inquired into the cases where children below the age of 15 years were forced into bonded labour and awarded compensation to the victims as well as the survivors of victims.
PUCL had filed this case based on the report given by “Campaign against Child Labour”. According to this report, children below the age of 15 years were forced into bonded labour. One of the boys, aged about 8 years, was beaten to death. Out of 4 boys who were untraceable, 3 were recovered by the police. Regarding the 4th boy, the Maharashtra Police said that it was making efforts to trace him. The Supreme Court granted compensation of Rs. 2 lakhs to the boy whose brother was killed which was to be paid by the State of Maharashtra. The other 3 boys were granted compensation of Rs. 75,000 each to be paid by the State of Tamil Nadu. The Court recorded appreciation of the efforts made by PUCL.’
