Jaipur, March 24 -- Ramavatar's 17-year-old girl went missing one night in January. He searched her for two days and then it was found that one of the aides of the owner of their brick kiln in Udaipur took her to his village. "He pleaded the owner several times to return her but he refused. Then all of the workers in the kiln boycotted work for next 15 days pushing the owner to ask his man to bring her back. She returned but we have still no idea what happened to her. We asked her repeatedly but she seems very scared," said Vijay Kumar, a neighbour of Ramavatar who also went to the kiln along with 50 others to work in that kiln at Udaipur's Mavli from Uttar Pradesh's Kasganj after Diwali. The kiln had become more like a cage than a workplace for these 50 labourers in last six month where regular assault was a daily scenario while they were also not allowed to visit outside. After Diwali last year, a contractor of the brick kiln owner, Mur Mukut, paid each of these labourers Rs.12,000 to Rs.55,000 in advance to work in that Mavli-based brick kiln to compensate the payment. "But we never imagined what life we are going to lead there. It felt like we were criminals in a jail," said Vijay. Few days later, Ramavatar's one-month-old grandson and his nephew Raj Jatav's two-month-old daughter fell sick suddenly. Despite they repeatedly asked the owner to let them visit a hospital nearby for their treatment, he refused. "He said we would flee with his money and so he doesn't trust any of us," said Raj who arrived with his parents, wife and two other daughters (8 and 3 years old) in kiln. "The owner's contractor paid me a Rs.30,000 in advance and took us initially to a different kiln in Jalore where my child Anaya was born in January. A little later, they shifted all of the 50 workers to this new kiln in Mavli. Few days after shifting here, my daughter fell sick. I repeatedly requested permission to take her to a hospital, but the owners and other managing staff refused every time," he said. The kiln authority allowed Raj to take her to a local PHC only on February 25 when Anaya's condition seriously deteriorated. "However, the PHC's doctor diagnosed that Anaya has been suffering from pneumonia and asked us to shift to a better hospital immediately. We asked for some money from the management to get her admitted. But they refused again forcing us to return to the kiln and resume work. Meanwhile, Anaya passed away on March 1," said Raj. After her death, Raj and his wife further requested permission to return to their hometown to perform the last rites, but this was also denied. The child's body was kept for two days and began to decompose when they decided to bury her near the kiln only on Monday. The family was also told they would be allowed to go home afterward, but later they were asked to continue working. When they insisted on leaving, they were allegedly beaten. Raj's situation, meanwhile scared Ramavatar and they decided to flee with his family and return to Kasganj. "The management was also probably under pressure from the other laabourers after anaya's death... Soon the owner came to know about it, he sent to two men immediately to bring us back. As they started chasing, we managed to flee on the same night, reached the station, and took a train to Kasganj. But my son died in the way," said Ramavatar's son, Sandeep....