Mom takes on mission to save girl trafficked 6 yrs ago, NGOs rescue duo from Aligarh
Times of India | 6 January 2025
Kolkata: A 17-year-old girl, trafficked six years ago at the age of 11 from the outskirts of the IT hub of Rajarhat and sold to a family in UP's Aligarh, would never have had the chance to be free again but for the immense courage of her 35-year-old mother who tried to rescue her after receiving her SOS, and three NGOs and two police stations in UP and Bengal that came to her aid.
The homemaker, a mother of three, risked everything after getting off an express train at 2 am, all alone in a place unknown to her. She ended up being confined and assaulted by the traffickers, who also tried to threaten her and her daughter into submission.
According to the mother, her eldest daughter was trafficked in 2018. "For the past six years, she was confined to her ‘home' in Aligarh, beaten up each night for failing to complete domestic chores and even burnt for disobeying commands," she said, recalling her daughter's ordeal shortly after returning to Kolkata on Friday evening.
Four months ago, the homemaker, who had not given up hoping to get the child back, received a video call from the girl. More calls followed but the traffickers at the other end set rules — the calls had to be in the presence of the minor's ‘husband' for strict vigilance; they had to be short, the conversation always in Hindi. "I reconciled to everything, even when her so-called husband asked me to pay up periodically. I initially thought that my daughter was at least alive in another state," the mother said.
A week ago, on Dec 30, the woman received an untimely call where her daughter pleaded for her to save her. The call was abruptly cut. The woman then managed to call her daughter's neighbour, whose number she had tactfully saved earlier. "The neighbour told me the family was beating my daughter and had chained her up. There were burns all over her body. She told me to take my daughter back or else, she warned, my child might get murdered," she said.
The woman took a bold decision. She knew her husband would not support her. The local police had noted that her daughter eloped with her lover, despite her age, and a formal FIR on kidnapping was never registered. "I stopped thinking too much. I knew one thing — I had to save my daughter," said an officer.
On Dec 31, she left home for Aligarh alone, without approaching anyone else. She had Rs 5,000 that she had managed to save and boarded the Poorva Express, reaching Aligarh at 2 am. She had an address that she collected from her daughter's neighbour. She reached the house where her daughter was confined and sought an explanation. The traffickers promptly confined her to a room, too, and asked her to pay lakhs to secure her daughter's future.
Thankfully, an anti-trafficking NGO working in Bengal managed to get wind of the situation and informed two others. NGO Shakti Vahini lodged a zero FIR at Sashan PS. Sashan police then informed cops at Aligarh while NGOs in UP contacted Aligarh police, too. Aligarh police rescued the two women.
"We shared a shocking video with the Just Right for Children alliance, Kosi Lok Manch, and Shakti Vahini, and with the network, we were able to reach out to Aligarh police, who then raided the place and rescued the mother and the girl," said social worker Rishi Kant who is attached to Shakti Vahini.
The two women were not hospitalised, even though the girl carried severe injuries all over her body. Instead, the UP Police put the seriously injured minor and her mother on the Howrah-bound Poorva Express. No arrest has been made. On their return, the Sashan police was informed and the child welfare committee has been involved. Sashan police have taken up the investigation. Besides planning raids in Aligarh, cops said they are probing the role of the girl's father in the entire incident.