The migrant workers are the one of most vulnerable groups of population and deserve care, concern, respect and dignity in their life. The police force has been assigned the duty of protecting the public against violence, crime and other harmful acts. They are the responsible officers of the state but they have proved themselves to be the violators themselves rather than the protectors regarding the condition of migrant workers in relation to police brutalities. As per Amnesty International India (AII) executive director Avinash Kumar ‘unfortunately for these people, state machinery has become a larger threat than the covid 19 pandemic. A video was released on 26th march 2020 where a group of migrant workers were forced to hop down a main road with bags on their backs by the police and were humiliated while returning home. Many were beaten at the Delhi border on 28th march who tried to go back to their homes. Some of the migrant workers who were demanding travel arrangements from the state to return to their homes were arrested by the Gujarat police in Surat on 4th may 2020 and in another incident in Bengaluru police personnel at KG Halli police station. An ordinance was passed in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh through which the labour laws concerning workers working for daily or weekly wages were suspended, 38 labour laws were suspended . But through the high court decision Uttar Pradesh government withdrew the controversial order but others remained in force. Labours fall under the concurrent list in the constitution of India implying that both the central and state government can make changes in certain provisions but the changes must be lawful and approved by the central government. But the laws that are being adopted during the pandemic are exploitive and law should instead be crafted to protect workers. Various petitions were filed during lockdown regarding the rights of migrants, on 16th may 2020 PIL was filed for providing free relief and transport to migrant workers stating it as a responsibility of state government and ordered the centre to direct states to provide free food, shelter and transport to migrant workers, but nothing was done in this regard as the migrants were strangled on roads and had to reach their villages on their own. The government took the excuse of emergency in order to escape their liability. In one of the PIL advocates ‘Prashant Bhushan’ cited a study conducted on 11000 migrant workers and said 90% of them have not got any ration on food from the government. But this petition was dismissed by saying that everyone is doing their best to come out of this situation. Justice Ramana led bench said- In this situation the Court cannot say whether some task has to be done one way or Another, everyone is doing their job and the situation is just such that we cannot predict what is going to happen next. food is being provided to them by the government, whoever informs government about non – availability, it reaches them within an hour. But it was quite evident to the whole state through various media sources the hardship being faced by the migrant workers and how they are left unattended. The supreme court has itself repeatedly stated that the right to life has a wide ambit and it does not merely mean the animal existence but a dignified life, but these things have always remained limited to theory and when it comes to practice they are barely implemented, it was stated that when food is provided wages are not necessary thus the judiciary has miserably failed in protecting the rights of migrant workers.
The lockdown around the world has increased unemployment mainly to the vulnerable sections of the society because they lack the content of social security. There is a shortage of labour and this is likely to increase the possibility of exploitation to the remaining workers. when the lockdown ended and the work was resumed these migrant workers are taken advantage of and are likely to accept any kind of work so that they are able to earn for their families without considering the point that they are open to the risk of covid 19 because they were left unattended by the government and thus violating their right to life which in itself includes protection of their health. Migrants are one of the most vulnerable groups when it comes to the human rights violations from the very beginning even when there are various migrant specific legislations internationally and domestically available to them. They are struggling with low wages, physical and sexual and mental exploitation. Their marginalization has a deep rooted cause in India.. It has been there since the colonial times when capitalists used to exploit the workers and until today the same thing is happening directly or indirectly. They are being provided minimum facilities and the condition of workers during the covid pandemic shows how deep the neglect is.. The condition of workers during pandemic was widely reported even during the early months of pandemic still the government did not pay any attention towards it. The supreme court of India that is seen as the supreme guardian of the state has also shown an indifferent attitude towards the migrant workers, the marginalisation and stigmatisation has led to the adversity to the conditions and struggles of already struggling migrant workers bringing them to roads and leading to their deaths and injuries. According to me the Indian government’s decision of lockdown all of a sudden without notice had two fold effects one was that the health and safety of the people was ensured because covid 19 did not transmit when there were no gatherings but it adversely affected the life of the migrant workers who are mostly daily wagers and were forced to leave their accommodations bringing them to roads thus infringing their basic rights that is right to life which is the heart and soul of all the rights and the right to equality, had they been provided the right to life they would not have been left unattended by the government thus failing in being a welfare state.
Concluded after continuing from Part-I Published on Wednesday, June 1, 2022… (The author is research scholar at Central University of Kashmir. Views expressed are exclusively her own)
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