Bandhua Mukti Morcha v Union of India

• PIL by Bandhua Mukti Morcha (Bonded Labour Liberation Front) regarding bonded labourers working in stone quarries in Faridabad district, Haryana
• Workers trapped in debt bondage: advances taken from quarry owners became unpayable debts binding workers and their families to perpetual service
• Workers lived in inhuman conditions: no shelter, contaminated water, no medical facilities, children working alongside parents
• State argued it had no knowledge of bonded labour in the area

1. Whether bonded labour system violates fundamental rights under Arts.21 and 23.
2. Whether the State has a positive duty to identify and free bonded labourers.
3. What framework should exist for rehabilitation after release.

• Bonded labour is "totally incompatible with the dignity of human person" and per se violative of Arts.21 and 23
• The State has a POSITIVE OBLIGATION (not merely negative duty of non-interference) to: (a) identify bonded labourers; (b) release them from bondage; (c) rehabilitate them with alternative livelihood
• Ignorance is no defence; State must actively investigate and act
• Directed release of workers and comprehensive rehabilitation scheme

The Constitution does not merely prohibit the State from imposing forced labour; it requires the State to actively protect citizens from forced labour by private actors. The right to life (Art.21) includes the right to live with dignity, which is destroyed by bonded labour. The bonded labour system is per se violative of basic human rights.