It was end of 2019 when two Bangladeshi women aged 19 years and 21 years were rescued in a sex trafficking racket in Hyderabad. It took over four months for us to build a trust relationship with the victims. When the victims started feeling comfortable, they began to share their ordeal. Both the girls had similar stories of deprivation and neglect at home. They were promised better employment with high salaries in India and were motivated to illegally cross the border.
Trusting the agents/Dalal’s they took great risk, hoodwinked BSF and illegally crossed the border from the West Bengal front. They were guided by the Dalal’s to reach Hyderabad. It was only when they reached Hyderabad that they realized the true nature of the job offered when their mobile phones were taken away from them. They were asked to prostitute and promised a share of the earnings. When both resisted, they were reminded that they had illegally crossed the border, and they could be booked under the Foreigner’s Act and put in the jail forever. Not knowing where to go, whom to contact or what language to communicate the women were coerced into an exploitative situation. For four months they were sent to different hotels and apartments catering multiple customers. Both the women told us that their traffickers were all Bangladeshi nationals even in Hyderabad and many other women were held captive by them.
It was about this time that we met the NIA Hyderabad Team. The DIG Ms. Vandana, IPS had come to my office, and we had a long chat on possible ways of collaboration. With the information that we had which was roughly verified and found to be true we went to NIA Office and gave all the information. In no time NIA swung into action. They contacted Chatrinaka Police who had rescued these two women and prepared a joint plan. Team Prajwala also became a part of the joint rescue team.
The rescue operation which started forenoon at 11am lasted at 3am the next day and three victims were rescued. For us it was a great exposure to scientific and professional rescue operation. Although we had participated in hundreds of rescues this was unique in its thoroughness. Every single material evidence at the scene of crime was seized and preserved.
Now we had five victims with us from the same set of traffickers. We were soon immersed in taking care of the victims, providing them the best trauma care and building a trust relationship that would be critical in their rehabilitation program.
The NIA Team had arrested six accused of which two were women. The case was now completely transferred to NIA, and they were investigating it in earnest. For the first time we saw the investigation moving beyond the scene of crime and exploring the entire journey from source to the destination. I am aware Vandana Mam, and her team even travelled to Bangladesh to look out for the traffickers.
We on our part had now not only the responsibility of rehabilitation but also to motivate the women to cooperate with the criminal justice system. As the women crossed small milestones in the rehabilitation program their motivation to fight for justice increased. A point came when the women unanimously told us that they will not leave the country till they have not testified in the case.
The case which was registered 2020 came up for victim’s testimony in 2021. All the five of them faced the battery of defense lawyers and stood firm in their statement. End of 2021 after they finished their part in the court, we safely repatriated them back to Bangladesh and the NIA team with Inspector Sashirekha joined us till Binapole Border to safely hand them over to our partner Justice & Care who then continued the community-based rehabilitation efforts. The continuum of care was ensured by our civil society partners in Bangladesh.
The NIA, Hyderabad team patiently worked with the prosecutors for 4 years and ensured every single section of the law that was applied there was clinching evidence for the same.
On 6th November 2024 at 5 pm the Hon’ble Nampally Court pronounced the judgement finding all the six guilty of human trafficking under Sec. 370 of IPC and all other sections applied under ITPA, 1956. The six accused were convicted with life imprisonment, a first in our experience in a case of adult cross-border trafficking.
I firmly believe this path-breaking judgement was only possible because NIA was involved. The local police at the best would have applied the PD Act and then forgotten the case in the multitude of law & order crises they must deal every day. Even if the case would have been detected by a specialized Anti Human Trafficking Unit, they could not have investigated it for they are mandated to hand it over to local police after the rescue.
NIA, Hyderabad not only investigated the case in Hyderabad but were able to trace all the back-end links to Bangladesh and put forth a strong chargesheet. Simultaneously they worked with the victims through us and ensured their morale was not broken or crushed at any point. Perhaps it is these joint efforts that has ensured that all the survivors are now living happily and two of them have joined the anti-trafficking movement.
The power of partnership is very potent especially between state and non-state partners in fighting an organized crime like human trafficking.
We have been advocating for a pan India dedicated investigating agency to handle international human trafficking cases, and the National Investigating Agency (NIA) is the right choice. They bring in both the skill and dedication that is required to fight such crimes on a war footing.
This conviction is one step towards building a Human trafficking Free Bharat!
