Karnataka High Court bats for police verification of migrant workers hired as domestic helps

The Karnataka High Court recently opined that the State should come out with guidelines to regulate and verify the background of migrant workers who are hired to stay at the private residences of their employers. .A Bench of Justices HP Sandesh and Venkatesh Naik made the suggestion after expressing concerns about incidents where migrant workers were reported to have been allegedly involved in serious offences such as murder and robbery at the premises where they were employed."In many such cases, the house owners or employers had engaged the workers without conducting any background verification, identity confirmation, or registration with the concerned authorities. Some of such migrant workers frequently committing crimes and fleeing away and as such, the same have to be streamlined by issuance of certain guidelines by the State Government. This situation highlights the urgent need for preventive safeguards through strict enforcement of existing labour and criminal regulatory mechanisms," the Court said. It, therefore, called for the introduction of a vetting system, where a background check may be conducted by the police before a migrant worker who is hired to stay at the employer's residence. A public awareness campaign should also be conducted on safe hiring practices, the Court said. "A structured and mandatory police verification mechanism should be introduced before engaging workers who reside within private premises, similar to tenant verification systems, with simplified online registration portals accessible to the public. At the same time, widespread public awareness campaigns through print, electronic, and social media platforms should be undertaken to educate citizens about safe hiring practices," the February 27 ruling saidHowever, the Court clarified that such exercises must be done without stigmatising migrant workers. "However, while strengthening preventive mechanisms, it is equally important to ensure that migrant workers are not stigmatized as a class, since criminal liability is individual in nature and the constitutional guarantees under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India protect the dignity and equality of all persons. Thus, balanced judicial directions aimed at regulation, awareness, and accountability without discrimination which would serve the larger interest of public safety and social justice," the Court said. .The Court made the suggestion while convicting a migrant worker, her husband, and two others for murdering her employer and his family at their house during a robbery. The accused was hired as a domestic worker by the Sachidev family comprising Professor Purushotham Lal Sachidev, Rita Sachidev and their son Munna Sachidev.The maid, Suchitra Haldar, is alleged to have conspired with her husband Deepak Haldar and his friends Mohammed Sarbal @ Raj and Bidan Shikari, and one other, to murder and rob her employers. The crime took place in 2009. Purushotham, Rita and Munna Sachidev were murdered and gold, cash and other valuables were stolen from their house. During the investigation, the police noted that Suchitra and Deepak Haldar, who were earlier staying at an outhouse in the deceased's property, had gone missing. The police then traced the couple to West Bengal, recovered the stolen valuables from them and arrested them. The couple confessed to the crime and also implicated three other accused. Two of the remaining accused were arrested, while the fifth accused remained at large. The four arrested accused were acquitted by a trial court. Aggrieved, the State filed an appeal before the High Court, which was allowed on February 27. "We are of the considered opinion that the prosecution has proved the guilt of the accused persons beyond reasonable doubt," the High Court ruled.It sentenced all four accused to life imprisonment for triple murder, robbery and for entering into a criminal conspiracy to commit such crimes. .The Court also flagged the difficulties faced in tracing migrant workers who may commit crimes and then flee to other States.The Court added that some guidelines are required to ensure verification of backgrounds of migrant workers before they are hired.The Bench urged the State to take a call on this issue, and directed that a copy of the concerns expressed by it be communicated to the Karnataka government's Chief Secretary."In this case, the migrant labours who were from West Bengal came to Bengaluru in search of job, entered the house of deceased persons as maid, they made criminal conspiracy, committed murder of deceased persons (three deaths) and robbed gold, silver and other valuable properties in their house and fled away. They were arrested after twenty months of the incident ... there was difficulty in tracing and securing the accused persons. In this regard, streamlining of the aforesaid guidelines is very much required. Thus, we hereby direct the State Government to take a call on this issue," the judgment said..High Court Government Pleader Rashmi Patel appeared for the State. Advocate GR Sheshadri represented the four accused. .[Read Judgment].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.