The Haryana government has granted Rs 10 lakh compensation to a 15-year-old boy from Bihar who lost his left arm after being forced into bonded labour by a dairy owner in 2025. The compensation was awarded by Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department, Sudhir Rajpal, on June 23, relaxing provisions of the Haryana Victim Compensation Scheme, 2020, as an exceptional humanitarian case.
Background of the Case
The case came to light after the Haryana Human Rights Commission took cognizance of the incident. The accused, Anil Kumar, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, is facing trial on charges of enslaving the teenager, identified as Sanjay (name changed), and allegedly cutting off parts of his arm with a blade after it got entangled in a chaff cutter last July.
Sanjay’s ordeal began in April 2025 when he arrived in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra from Bihar’s Kishanganj district in search of work. After more than a month, Sanjay’s father came to pick him up from Kangra. Both reached Jind, and on May 26, they boarded the Farakka Express at Bahadurgarh railway station. Sanjay got down to buy food and water and failed to return to the train on time and missed it. He had no money or a mobile phone. His father searched for him at the next station in Delhi, but there was no way to contact him.
Enslavement and Injury
Kumar saw the boy crying and took him to his dairy, where he was forced to tend cattle and work in the fields under constant surveillance. On one occasion, Sanjay tried to escape but was unsuccessful. After about two months, while operating a chaff cutter, his left arm was amputated at the elbow. Instead of taking him to a doctor, Kumar cut off the remaining part of the arm with a blade and gave him some medicine.
Fearing police action, the accused later abandoned the injured boy on the Palwal-Hasanpur road after giving him Rs 10,000. He also allegedly threw the small pieces of the arm in the Yamuna.
Rescue and Medical Treatment
A teacher found Sanjay and took him to a Community Health Centre in Nuh. The local police later contacted his father on July 29. Sanjay was referred to PGIMS, Rohtak, where he underwent four surgeries after developing a severe infection. Initially too traumatised to narrate the incident, Sanjay later told the police that he could hear the ‘azaan’ from a nearby mosque but could not identify the location where he had been confined. A case was registered at Bahadurgarh on August 10, 2025.
Investigation and Arrest
Haryana Human Rights Commission member Deep Bhatia told The Tribune, “The boy could recall hearing aeroplanes and seeing a river nearby. I suggested police to look for the accused near the Jevar airport area along the Haryana-Uttar Pradesh border, where trial landings take place.” After travelling across parts of Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh with the victim, police arrested Kumar on December 30, 2025. He later confessed to the crime.
Commission’s Order and Compensation
The Commission, in its order dated May 14, observed, “…the victim-child has suffered not only physical injury but mental agony as well due to loss of upper left limb (left arm), thus, he has sustained permanent disability. Even though above said disability cannot be compensated at any cost, in a given situation, making provision of an artificial limb to the victim child may serve the cause. Making provision of an artificial limb to the victim-child would incur an expenditure of at least Rs. 10 lakhs or more. Thus, the victim-child must be provided an artificial upper limb, which is his basic necessity.”
In compliance with the Commission’s order, Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department, Sudhir Rajpal, awarded a compensation of Rs 10 lakh on June 23 by relaxing provisions of the Haryana Victim Compensation Scheme, 2020, “as an exception case on humanitarian grounds.”
