New Delhi, March 7 The NHRC said on Saturday that its intervention in a case involving six Indian workers who were allegedly "tortured while in captivity" by their employer in Thailand over the past several months has resulted in their rescue.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had recently sought a response from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in this case.
The NHRC's suo motu intervention led to the MEA "swiftly rescuing" the six Indian workers from Kendrapara district in Odisha, who had been allegedly "tortured while in captivity" by their employer in Thailand for the past six months, the rights panel said in a statement.
Four of those rescued were repatriated to the country the very next day after the NHRC communicated with the MEA on February 20, it said, adding that the employer paid for their return journey to India.
They arrived in Kolkata via a flight booked by their employer from Bangkok, the statement said.
The MEA's Southern Division informed that it is pursuing the matter of repatriating the remaining two rescued workers with the Thai immigration authorities, as they had overstayed their visa, the statement said.
On February 20, the Commission had sought the MEA's comments on whether it could provide any assistance to the families of the six captive workers after taking cognizance of a media report.
"Promptly acting on receiving the NHRC communication, the MEA's Southern Division sent a request to the Thai authorities to rescue them and also contacted the owner of the company, in which the six workers were reportedly working," the NHRC said in the statement.
The media had reported on a video on February 17, in which the workers from Kendrapara had shared their plight, the NHRC said.
"They were held captive and subjected to physical and mental torture by their employer inside a plywood factory near Bangkok. They were forced to work for 12 hours a day without any salary or proper food. Their employer reportedly also confiscated their passports," the statement said.