A 10-year-old tribal girl from Ubhade village in Igatpuri, who had multiple injuries on her body and strangulation marks around her neck, died while undergoing treatment at Nashik Civil Hospital on September 2. The minor, Gauri Agivle, worked as a bonded labourer for Vikas Kudnar, a shepherd from Shindodi village in Ahmednagar district, as part of a deal her parents struck with him while borrowing R3,000. Kudnar and his wife Suman have been booked and arrested by Sangamner police. 

The minor’s parents, who belong to the Katkari Samaj tribe—an extremely poor community, had taken a loan of Rs 3,000 from Kudnar around three years ago. “After lending the money, Kudnar had offered to give them Rs 10,000 and two sheeps every year if they sent their minor daughter to work for him and look after the sheep at his farm. The poor family had agreed as they had no other way to repay the loan,” said Sanjay Ramchandra Shinde, general secretary of Shramjeevi Sanghatana in Nashik.