[Survivor Series] Three days before my 17th birthday, I put on a school uniform for the first time

I still remember the day I saw my mother for the last time. I had gone out of the house to play and two ladies came over and offered to play with me. They looked familiar, so I agreed. They offered me a drink, and I became unconscious. When I awoke, they were gone, and in their place was a man named Naveen*.   He lied and told me that my family had sold me because they were not able to take care of me. I cried and begged him to let me go home.

I was only four-years-old. 

For the next 12 years, I was a slave in Naveen’s home. They changed my name. I had no freedom and was always locked up. Although his three sons and two daughters all went to school, Naveen didn’t allow me to study. Instead, I was forced to do the chores and was beaten by everyone in the family. 

When I was 15, the family took me with them to attend the wedding of one of Naveen’s sons. After one month, Naveen’s sister and daughter-in-law brought me to Kolkata. I was then taken to Sonagachi —Kolkata’s largest red-light district. Because I was only 15, the family feared that the police would come to arrest them, so they sequestered me in an apartment in another area of the city. They then sent me back to Mumbai to stay with Naveen’s son, who started sexually exploiting me. 

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I wanted to tell someone, but I had no evidence to prove what had happened. He said he would accuse me of making up stories. After one month, I was taken back to Kolkata, this time, to a different apartment owned by Naveen’s brother. Again, I was raped by one of Naveen’s sons who threatened me into silence. I was taken back to Sonagachi.  

In a large, multi-storied brothel, I was tied, beaten, and forced to have sex with any customer who came. I could never leave. I was kept in the brothel for almost one month until the International Justice Mission (IJM) learned of my situation. A week later, Kolkata Police and IJM conducted an operation to rescue me.   

On April 5, 2013, a team of police, advocates, and social workers raided the brothel. They found and arrested the madam. I was so afraid that I was hiding behind a curtain. It was only when an IJM advocate saw my hand from where I was hiding that they found me. I was terrified because I had been told that if the police caught me, they would thrash me. At the police station, I lied about my age multiple times before finally admitting I was only 15. 

After my rescue, I moved into an aftercare home and began the long process of healing. At first, whenever I was asked where my parents were, I would get extremely upset. I wasn’t happy or expressive, but over the next year-and-a-half of participating in trauma therapy and building a relationship with my caseworker, I started to open up.  

I began informal schooling and vocational training at the aftercare home, but what I really wanted was to study. When I watched children go to school, I wanted to put on a uniform and go to school like them. But, with no formal education at 16-years-old, the prospects were limited. IJM searched until they found a programme in which non-traditional students could study and live at a private school. They struggled to get me admitted, and finally, in November 2014, I enrolled for the class.  

Three days before my 17th birthday, I put on a school uniform for the first time in my life. 

After 13 years of forced labour and sexual exploitation, I was finally free to reclaim my childhood. Alongside my education, I continued my vocational tailoring course.

I am currently working in a business firm. Because of the memories that Kolkata holds, someday I want to return to Mumbai, and hopefully, find my family.  I am moving forward in life and determined to keep learning.  I am an active member of the IJM Champion Programme at Kolkata and represent survivors on radio talk shows, training, workshops, etc., to spread awareness about sex trafficking. 

I have participated in a forum where survivors of trafficking from across India came together and formed the Indian Leadership Forum Against Trafficking (ILFAT). Together, we have advocated for the passing of the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection, and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018.

If you want to do something in life, you must leave your past and focus on the future. I want to forget my past and move on with my new life. 

*Names have been changed to protect identities.  

(Source: International Justice Mission)