When
I first met nineteen year old Bhavani in 2002, I was taken aback by her
vehemence and aggression. Bhavani was rescued from G.B Road Red Light Area in
New Delhi an infamous prostitution zone close to Kamala Market Police Station
filled with many ‘Kothas’ (brothels) with girls from all over India and a
significant number from Andhra Pradesh. My dear friend Roma Debabrata who heads
STOP had assisted the police in that rescue where hundreds of telugu girls were
rescued. What struck me about this girl
is her aggressive stand that she was ‘doing this by her willing choice’ and why
were we harassing her?
When
she was brought to my shelter home in Hyderabad, she tried to escape twice. It
took her more than 6 weeks to settle down. And when I finally spoke to her the
first few question she asked “how can I trust you? The same police who were
taking ‘haftas’(bribe) every week from each brothel are now removing us from
that place? And you people were with the
police, so how much do you get?” I was stumped by her questions.
Over
a period, after many counseling sessions she confided that she was 12 years old
when she was brought to Delhi from Ananthpur in Andhra Pradesh by a friendly
neighbor who had promised a good job as domestic help in an affluent family.
The lady left her in a brothel and disappeared. In an unknown city and an alien
language, Bhavani could not understand when the Malkin (brothel keeper) told
her to change her clothes and be ready for a customer. As soon as Bhavani
realized what was happening to her, she tried to escape. The henchmen in the
brothel traced her and brought her back to the same place. Physical torture,
threats and intimidation followed. When Bhavani felt she had no choice, she
gave up resisting. In the seven years that she lived in that brothel she had to
cater to 20-30 men a day, was given injections to enhance her body, became a
substance abuser to handle the men, met hundreds of police men who took their
‘weekly cuts’ to provide protection to the brothel and had four abortions. As
Bhavani’s story unfolded before my eyes in the next few weeks for the first
time I was able to see how much we have failed not just Bhavani but also
hundreds of girls like her who have been sold in sex slavery and have over the
period of time normalized the experience of being exploited.
Who
will take accountability for these irreversible damages? This is the question
that plagued my mind over the next few months as I met hundreds of such victims
in my shelter home. One thing that was clear in my mind was that no stakeholder
looked at either the law or post rescue services from the perspective of the
victim.
For
them she was a burden to get rid of at the earliest. There was not even an iota
of empathy to reflect on ‘what is making this person behave in this particular
manner’.
At
my own level I started advocating for a comprehensive policy in the State of
Andhra Pradesh. In 2003 after much lobbying the first ever Anti Trafficking
Policy, GO MS 1 issued on 3rd January 2003 came into effect.
My
close interactions with hundreds of girls removed from commercial sexual
exploitation opened my eyes to a world of slavery and also an organized crime.
While society at large looked at it as a moral crime and formed prejudiced
opinion about the victim, I was able to see a different side of the coin. Every
time there was a rescue and girls were admitted in my shelter, a very powerful
counter force would be in the court trying to get the release of the victim. In
Delhi we faced even high profile lawyers rushing to the High Court stalling the
transfer of the Telugu victims to their home state. Back home, this resistance
was felt at multiple levels including physical attacks on our shelter, assaults
on our staff, personal attacks on my life and also as threats, intimidation and
ultimatum of eviction.
This
set me thinking, how come these girls who come from such poverty ridden
families have access to such powerful groups who will go to any extent to get
the girls out of the ‘shelter home’. In a country where there is no value for
life, girl children are considered a burden and worthy of only feticide or
infanticide, a rape victim is victimized for being a victim and socially excluded,
how come in the same country these girls who have been sold into prostitution
and have been raped by thousands of men have such a ‘high value’ that people
are willing to stake their money and their lives to take them out of our
‘shelters’? Claimants with best lawyers would go even to the High Court or
Supreme Court to take custody of a victim sheltered in a ‘safe home’.
Organizations like mine were vilified and were recipients of constant abuse,
threat and attacks.
The
pattern of the criminal syndicate was slowly becoming more and more clearer to
me as the days passed. While the trafficking syndicate wanted the girls back in
the brothels to ensure their steady flow of exponential revenue, there were
also others who wanted them back for their own reasons; I think it is best left
to them to explain their motives. I also came to understand the vicious cycle
of the crime wherein a victim over a period of time not only normalized the
experience of being exploited but also slowly became a perpetrator of the
crime. The inter-dependence of a young victim and an aged woman in prostitution
is a frightening reality of perpetuation of the crime.
In
2004, I finally decided to file a Public Interest Litigation 56/2004 in the
Supreme Court of India demanding Victim Protection Protocols for victims of sex
trafficking ensuring that victims are treated with dignity & respect not
only during rescue operations but also in each of the post-rescue process
putting an end to any form of secondary victimization and also ensuring
rehabilitation as a right of a victim. For 11years the case was argued in the
Supreme Court. Although I started with Human Rights Law Network, when Aparna
Bhat moved out of that firm I requested her to argue for me. For a very small
retainer fee, Aparna argued the case for us for 10years. Towards 2014, I
requested Shri Dushyant Dave a prolific advocate to represent us as senior
counsel. Shri Dave argued the case probono. In 2015 the court passed its final
direction. The court directed the Central Government to bring a comprehensive
legislation on Trafficking of Persons (not just sex trafficking but all forms
of trafficking)
For
the last three years the Ministry of Women & Child Welfare has held
hundreds of consultations and inter-ministerial dialogue to draft the
Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection & Rehabilitation) Bill. All
my recommendations in the Supreme Court now takes the form of a legislation, of
course the canvas is larger and encompasses all forms of trafficking. For the first time in the country trafficking
is now being recognized as an organized crime and a frame-work is envisaged in
the form of National Anti Trafficking Bureau which will address the local,
national and international implications of all forms of trafficking. It is also
the first time that this framework will address both inter-state and cross-border
trafficking. As I mentioned earlier I started with a narrow framework of sex
trafficking but the Bill addresses practically all forms of trafficking such as
labor exploitation, surrogacy, commercial sexual exploitation, forced marriage
and beggary.
While
at one end the criminal syndicate is addressed, the Bill also recognizes the
damages a person is subjected to in the process of being trafficked and thereafter living in the world of exploitation
and provides for short-term and long term rehabilitation, victim witness
protection and accountability of all the stakeholder if they violate the norms.
There is a genuine threat perception for every victim who is removed from an
exploitative situation that he/she will be harmed by the criminal syndicate.
The fear is real, as the criminal syndicate is also concerned on what the
victim will disclose to the law enforcers. While community based rehabilitation
and social reintegration is the larger goal of every anti-human trafficking
intervention, there is no substitute for transit protection
homes/rehabilitation homes for creating a temporary safe environment for the
victim to heal and gain the necessary life-skills to cope up with the larger
society. This need of the victim is duly recognized by this Bill.
The
Bill also legally mandates that budgets are provided for all activities aiming at
prosecution of offenders and protection of victims ensuring it is not a mere rhetoric
but an implementable goal. Among many other components two important aspects
that the Bill covers is prevention of trafficking and self-evaluation by way of
Annual Trafficking in Persons Report.
Maybe
this is not a super perfect legislation, but it is a start. It takes the next
step in crystalizing Sec 370 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act and ensures a
legal statute in providing an organized framework to fight the most heinous
organized crime “trafficking of persons”.
Does
anybody in the world need to be worried about this Bill? I think so. For all those who directly or indirectly abet or live
on this crime will be impacted drastically if this legislation is implemented
in word and spirit.
After
removing over 20,000 women and children from sex slavery and experimenting on
various interventions to counter this organized crime, failing in many but also
successful in some, I know for sure that nobody can say today ‘lets legitimize
this crime as nothing can be done about it, so let us brand this as necessary
evil’. We have been able to demonstrate that it is possible to change and this
bill/ legislation is one more step towards it.
I say this with pride as over 146 survivor leaders are part of my
full-team in this movement against human trafficking.
When
I shared the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection &
Rehabilitation) Bill,2018 with my survivor leaders, most of them had tears in
their eyes. They had just come back after cremating the body of 23 year old Gayatri who was trafficked to
Delhi at the age of 14years, rescued at the age of 23 with her 3year old
daughter when she had full blown AIDS by a dear friend and collaborator Lalita
Nayak from SPID. She was in our shelter only for 10 days before AIDS took her
away on 9th July 2018.
In
the words of Jyoti a dynamic survivor leader “How many more lives have to be
lost before the world will wake up to our reality?”
As a tribute to Gayatri and hundreds like her who have lost their lives in this world of slavery....for those who are still enslaved...I hope India wakes up to the reality of human trafficking...and when this Bill is tabled in the Monsoon Session the parliamentarians are endowed with the right wisdom to value the lives and dignity of women and children...no human being deserves to be trafficked...even one is ONE TOO MANY
