On 12th November 2025, Freedom Firm received information from a partner NGO in Bangladesh reporting that in March 2025, a 15 year old Bangladeshi child was reported missing in Bangladesh. They had received intel that she was trafficked to Chennai and recently moved to Mumbai two months back.
The next day we started collecting information about the victim.
On the 14th November after we had gathered sufficient information about the victim, we left for Mumbai and met a senior officer from the Anti Human Trafficking Unit, AHTU, Mumbai. Due to a shortage of police personnel and the Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCPs, arrival in a few days, they would not be able to conduct any rescue operation right away.
On 15th November, we conducted our own investigation on Grant Road, Mumbai, the victim’s last known location. While we were searching for the victim, we received an update from our partner NGO that the victim had been moved to Kolkata.
Our team in Kolkata immediately swung into action and began tracing the victim based on available leads. We received some critical information from our partner NGO about the victim’s whereabouts. While we were verifying the information, we got another lead that the victim was not in Kolkata but still in Mumbai. So we continued to pursue leads that would lead us to her location.
On 25th November we visited D.B. Marg Police Station, Mumbai, sharing all details gathered during the investigation. We had tracked the victim to a rough location on Grant Road, Mumbai. The Police assured their support.
At 11:30 am, the police started pursuing their own leads to trace the victim. At 4:30 pm the police received additional information about the victim’s location and shortly after that our partner NGO then shared new information which helped us narrow the search down to two locations and then after a while we zeroed down on one location.
At 7:30 pm, the police and our team raided the brothel. All exit routes of the brothel were secured, and floor-by-floor searches began.
Panic broke out among occupants and several individuals attempted to flee. After 40–50 minutes of intensive searching, we found the victim, 15 year old Shami. She was in a room on the third floor. (The hotel owner had converted two rooms on the third floor of the hotel into a brothel. The rooms consisted of a living room, kitchen, five bathrooms and 10 smaller partition units for the women which were fitted with ceiling fans and flashy lights. There was an AC in the room and a gas stove as well.
The Police asked Shami some basic questions. Shami was frightened, disoriented and overwhelmed. A volunteer who had accompanied us spoke to Shami and managed to calm her down. Shami shared a few details with her. The Police arrested the brothel manager (a 44 year old male) and the pimp (a 30 year old male.) The trafficker who had trafficked Shami to India was absconding. The Police found 13 women in the brothel and rescued them as well. The police continued to collect incriminating evidence from the brothel.
On 27th morning at 3:30 am the Police completed writing their initial report at the brothel after which Shami along with the 13 women and the two accused were escorted to the Police Station.
At the Police Station the Police arranged for dinner for the victims and collected details from each of the victims.
At 10 am, the Police completed filing the First Information Report.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police acknowledged our part in Shami’s rescue and then transferred Shami’s case to the Assistant Commissioner of Police.
At 4:00 pm Shami and the other women were produced at the Sessions Court. After they recorded their statements before a Magistrate, we accompanied all the victims for their mandatory medical check up. After that, Shami was placed in a shelter home for minors and the other women were placed in a shelter home for majors.
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