At 03:02 pm on 13th August, a friend from a partner organization called to see if Freedom Firm would be willing to rescue a 25-year-old Bangladeshi sex trafficking victim in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, who was trafficked under the pretext of a decent job. In the blink of an eye, I said yes, without realizing the distance of nearly 1700 kms from Kolkata, where we have a highly committed Bengali-speaking team.
In the next 5 minutes, we received detailed information on the victim and her ordeal. I told my colleague in Kolkata to get ready; she abandoned a conference she was attending and immediately began planning the rescue with her team, and within a few hours, three team members left for Chennai; after a few days two of her teammates returned while she kept on fighting injustice alone for the next three weeks.
What dedication and commitment!
One of the police officers the team approached the next day said that the problem of sex trafficking does not exist in Tamil Nadu. His response took me back to February 2020. We had conducted a survey in Tamil Nadu. The survey revealed the shocking truth of cross-border trafficking from Bangladesh for commercial sexual exploitation across Tamil Nadu, especially in Chennai, and the need to fight against it. Before we could take the next steps, the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and we were forced to stay indoors and deal with the hunger crisis that survivors and their families were facing.
A senior-rank IPS officer took cognizance of the case and directed the jurisdictional police station in-charge to raid the brothel and rescue “Fahila” (meaning capable and distinguished.) When our team reached the location with the lady inspector; the brothel managers were alerted by the kingpin, which led to the relocation of the girls. Fortunately, our investigator noticed this and alerted the intervention team. The investigator moved into action and followed Fahila but unfortunately lost her in traffic. When Fahila saw a traffic policeman at the signal, she managed to get out of the vehicle and rushed towards him for help. After a short while, we received information from our partner organisation about Fahila’s location.
We are grateful to the policeman who fulfilled his duty, crossing borders and boundaries to protect a citizen of another country without a second thought. When our team reached Fahila, we found her calm and relieved.
Fahila was trafficked from Bangladesh on 6th August and rescued in India on 14th just before Independence Day, when her hope was gone. Simply incredible!
Despite deliberations held through the Indo-Bangla border during the 57th Director General Level Border Co-Ordination Conference held between the Border Security Force(BSF) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in June in Delhi, Fahila’s case fell through the cracks. At that meeting, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to intensify joint efforts through enhanced vigilance and extra precautionary measures to curb trans-border crimes, including human trafficking, within 2 months. The two border guarding forces reiterated their shared resolve to adopt a policy of zero tolerance towards trans-border crimes, this sensational case surfaced, pointing to the failure of the governments.
Along with Fahila, our team rushed to the local police station to register a First Information Report (FIR), but even after hearing her story, the police again began chanting the absence of trafficking in their state and continued until Fahila courageously disclosed the plight of six other Bangladeshi victims that led to their rescue in the early hours on 20th August. One of them was just 15 years old. She disclosed the kingpin’s criminal network encompassing three to four states in South India. Approximately 800 girls and women hailing from Bangladesh were in similar exploitative situations and are awaiting rescue.
The police finally registered the case.
Fahila’s continuous resolve and courage has the potential to bring freedom to all of them. Meanwhile, her stark revelations led to the arrest of the kingpin Riya by Chennai police with Freedom Firm’s support on the Indo-Bangla border in West Bengal on 30th August while she was attempting to enter Bangladesh.
When Fahila missed her menses, she suspected she may be pregnant. A few days after her rescue she started bleeding profusely. Nobody cared. Only when her strength started to fade, she was rushed to the hospital. She called us from there but before we could reach her, we learned she miscarried. She had been two months pregnant.
Despite all that happened to Fahila, she was still very “capable” and “distinguished,” as her name suggested. We are devoted to continuing to fight with and for her loss and for the rescue, restoration, and justice for countless others awaiting our collective response before its too late.
Would you consider standing with us in this fight across India?
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