Indian Worker ‘Dumped Like A Dog’ To Die: Satnam Singh’s Barbaric Death Sparks Protests In Italy

Latina: An Indian farm worker was packed in a truck and “dumped” like a “bag of rubbish near his home” along with his severed hand after his limb got chopped off while he was working on a machine. Satnam was employed on a farm in Latino along with his wife, who pleaded with his employer to take him to hospital but in vain. Instead of providing medical aid, the employer allegedly dumped him on a road to die.

Satnam, a Dalit farmer from Punjab’s Chand Nawa village, died on June 19.

The barbaric incident has sent shockwaves not only across Italy but India as well with thousands of people coming out in support of Satnam Singh and his family, demanding justice for them. What’s more worrying is that Satnam Singh was not the only one who faced the barbarism, there are thousands of migrant labourers who are suffering in the Italian town Latino while working in the most horrific environment one could imagine.

What Happened To Satnam Singh?

On June 17, Satnam was driving a plastic wrapping machine on the Borgo Santa Maria farm in Latina when the accident took place. The farm is owned by Italian national Antonello Lovato, who is facing an inquiry in this case.

When Satnam was driving the machine, he got pulled into its giant cutting wheel and lost an arm. The accident also led to the crushing of his legs and left multiple injuries on his body.

As per reports, Satnam and his wife were both working in the same field when the incident took place. After the accident, Satnam’s wife pleaded with the owner to take him to the hospital, but he left both of them outside their house.

“Adding to the horror of the accident is the fact that, instead of being rescued, the Indian farm worker was dumped near his home,” Laura Hardeep Kaur, general secretary of the Frosinone-Latina unit of the Flai Cgil union, told Il Giorno newspaper.

“He was left on the road like a bag of rags, like a sack of rubbish … despite his wife begging [the employer] to take him to hospital. Here we are not only faced with a serious workplace accident, which in itself is already alarming, we are faced with barbaric exploitation. Enough now.”

Local police dispatched an air ambulance following a distress call from Singh’s wife and friends but he could not be saved.

“He was flown to a hospital in Rome but succumbed to his injuries around midday,” a police spokesman in Latina reported.

The owner of the farm, Renzo Lovato, expressed his sorrow over the accident, but said Singh had been warned not to get close to the machine that injured him.

“The worker did it his own way. It was carelessness, unfortunately,” Lovato told RAI.

Who Was Satnam Singh?

Satnam was a resident of Chand Nawa village in the Moga district of Punjab. He had moved to Latina two years ago in search of work.

He was working on the Borgo Santa Maria farm in Latina.

After his death, the Italian government provided him permanent resident status to expedite the legal proceedings in his case.

What India Said

The secretary (Consular Passport and Visa Division and Overseas Indian Affairs) in the Ministry of External Affairs, Muktesh Pardeshi raised the matter with Luigi Maria Vignali, Director General for Migratory Policies and Italians Abroad, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Indian Embassy in Italy wrote on X, “Muktesh Pardeshi @SecretaryCPVOIA conveyed to @LuigiVignali Italian DG our deep concern about death of Satnam Singh & called for prompt action against those responsible.Embassy is in contact with family of Satnam Singh for consular help &transportation of mortal remains @MEAIndia”

Last week the embassy had said, “The Embassy is aware of the very unfortunate demise of an Indian national in Latina, Italy. We are in contact with the local authorities. Efforts are underway to contact the family and provide consular assistance.”

What Is Italy Doing?

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni paid homage to Satnam Singh and offered her condolences while calling for strict punishment against his “inhumane act”.

The Italian employer is under investigation for manslaughter, violation of workplace safety regulations and failure to provide aid.

Italy’s labour minister, Marina Calderone, condemned the “true act of barbarity” and hoped that those responsible would be punished. “The Indian agricultural worker who suffered a serious accident in the countryside of Latina and was abandoned in very serious conditions … has died,” she told parliament.

Agriculture minister Francesco Lollobrigida said on Thursday that Giorgia Meloni’s government was “on the frontline to fight against all forms of labour exploitation”. He added, “This is a tragedy which mustn’t leave us indifferent and on which full light must be shed.”

Protests Rock Italy

Singh’s death sparked massive protests in Italy with thousands of Indian workers and labourers calling for swift justice and improved labour laws in the country.

“He was thrown out like a dog. There is exploitation every day, we suffer it every day, it must end now,” stated Gurmukh Singh, the head of the Indian community in the Lazio region of central Italy.

According to Ministry of External Affairs data in May 2024, there are over 2 lakh overseas Indians in Italy. The number of documented Indians in Italy is highest in continental Europe just after Germany.

Social Media Outrage

Satnam Singh’s death sparked a massive outrage on social media as people took to X to voice their concern for margianalised sections and demanded justice for the Indian-origin worker.

One person wrote, “Killing of 31 yrs Satnam Singh from #Punjab in #Italy in inhuman way after his employer dumped him on road wid severed arm, again puts spotlight how people eyeing green pastures heads to US, EU illegally even risking lives, poor family want justice punishment to employer.”

FAI CISL Latina shared pictures from protest site and wrote, “We had to be there yesterday afternoon, for Satnam Singh and the many who preceded him. Yesterday afternoon, today and the days to come, we will be there to fight gangmastering and exploitation in agriculture. We will be there to make the many “invisible” “visible”!”

Workers Exploited In Italy

The exploitation of farmhands – Italian and migrant – in Italy is a well-known issue. Labourers across the country are often subject to gangmaster system known as “caporalato”. As per this system, middlemen illegally hire labourers who are then forced to work for very low salaries. Even workers with regular papers are often paid well below the legal wage.

Almost a quarter of the agricultural workforce in Italy in 2018 was employed under this method, according to a study by the Italian National Institute of Statistics. Thousands of people work in fields, vineyards and greenhouses dotted across the country, often without contracts and in highly dangerous conditions.

The practice of caporalato was outlawed in 2016 after an Italian woman died of a heart attack after working 12-hour shifts picking and sorting grapes, for which she was paid €27 (£23) a day.

Many ‘Satnam Singhs’ In Italy

Parambar Singh, another labourer, shared his harrowing experience of being denied medical assistance after a work-related injury due to lack of a contract. His plea for justice echoes the sentiments of many others who face similar exploitation and neglect on a daily basis. “Satnam died in one day, I die every day. Because I too am a labour victim,” Parambar Singh, whose eye was seriously hurt in a work accident, told AFP.

“My boss said he couldn’t take me to hospital because I didn’t have a contract,” said the 33-year-old, who has struggled to work since. “I have been waiting 10 months for justice,” he added.

Italy’s financial police identified nearly 60,000 undocumented workers from January 2023 to June 2024. But Italy’s largest trade union CGIL estimates that as many as 230,000 people – over a quarter of the country’s seasonal agricultural workers – do not have a contract. While some are Italian, most are undocumented foreigners.