This blog is about Dini also known as Daisy, (human traffickers normally change the names of the victims as well as the identity which exists close to nothing), a 15 year old girl from Jharkhand who was trafficked to New Delhi for Domestic work by a Placement Agency on a false promise of working at a missionary institution.
Incidents of this human trafficking case have been minutely described to share the process of interviews with the trafficked victim, traffickers, rescue planning, coordination and challenges faced while working with the police.
DAY 1:
The team of rescuers after a bit of research with Dini's fathers help established contacts with Dini's employer. The house where Dini was working as a domestic worker was in Miya Wali Nagar, PaschimVihar, Delhi.
On asking Mr. B, (Dini's employer) it was
realised that she had run away from the house on 17 th of May. The owner
claimed to have reported the girl missing to the closest police the day she ran away.
DAY 2:
The rescue team approached a Punjabi Bagh police
station, informing them about the Placement agency.
The police staff was initially very
apprehensive in sending a constable with the team to the placement agency for
the mere reason that there was absolutely no complaint filed with the police in
the matter of this case. They were constantly questioning as to how fist there
could be a situation where the police hasn’t filed an FIR. They seemed to be
quite amazed at the bizarre prospects of a police station not lodging an FIR.
They seemed to believe that this case was the “head ache” of the Ranchi Police
and that they had no authority to deal with the case. But after a lot of
persuasion, they finally agreed to send a constable along and by default sent
the head constable along.
On reaching the area, the first impression
one gets wouldn’t in any ones wildest dreams suggest that there could have been
such an agency being run there. In a crowded street, above a sweet shop after
climbing a narrow stairway, we reached the Placement Agency. On entering the room we met Misha the Placement Agency owner. After a short round of questioning the Misha about Dini all the people inside the room were called out.
About 4/5 minor girls walked out from behind the
curtains and were asked their names as well as that of their fathers. A lot of
the girls were afraid to respond but eventually answered. It was
revealed that all the girls were from Jharkhand. There was a boy there who claimed to be the brother of one of the girls but again when
questioned was trying to divert it by saying that his sister had already
mentioned all the details.The owner as well as the girls claimed that
the girls were all going back to the village. But there isn’t any confirmation
of that fact.
Since the team was more concerned with
rescuing Mr. P's daughter, Dini, they got back t questioning Misha about her. She produced forms in which all the information about he girl was
written. It included her name, age, current address and other such information.
From the face of it, the agency seemed to be very well organised.
Following the information given in the
form, we went to the mentioned address which was a house in Janak Puri, Delhi.
Once there the lady, more worried about the consequence she will face, didn’t
want to hand over the child or so much so as let us in till it was assured to
her that it will be given to her in written that the girl has been handed over
and that she was to face no trouble related to this case. She immediately
brought out the form in which it read that the girl was 18 yrs of age. Once
she realised that it wasn’t her who we wanted to deal with, we were allowed to
enter the house and a girl was brought out.
Once the formalities of the written
statements and handing over were completed, the girl and the father were both
taken back to a safe place.
DAY 3:
Flashback:
We visited a Church, where Mr. P and his daughter Dini
were residing. We first spoke to Dini as her father was not present at that
very moment. The girl was asked few questions to get a clearer picture as to
why was to that she actually ran away. She claimed that her friend, Loveleen’s
bhabi, Salomi was the one who had informed Misha (the agency owner/human trafficker) about the
girls and was told that the two- Dini and Loveleen want to go to Delhi to
work. It was Misha who had come to take the girls to Delhi and stayed with the
girls at her sister’s house. They reached Delhi on the 12th and by
the 13th Dini, from here on was referred to as Daisy, was placed in
a house in Miya Wali, Paschim Vihar.
She worked there
till the 17th after which she escaped. Her schedule there required
her to wake up by 5 am and work till 9 pm. She did mention that she was scolded
at times. On the 17th she escaped and walked back to Punjabi Bagh on her own. She didn’t once stop for directions, and had observed the way
when she was taken to work and knew it to the T.
Once she reached
the Agency she told “Nandu”, Misha’s husband and the co-owner of the agency, that
she wanted to go back home but instead he sent her to work in Janak Puri.
Dini's decision to come to Delhi was fueled mainly because she
was persuaded by both Misha and Salomi.
Dini is well
versed in English and writes the language beautifully, she was a studying the the 10th grade when trafficked, She is very fond of writing and reading and wants to study further. She is now back in Jharkhand and is happily continuing with her education.
It has to be noted that in this kind of a service sector (placement agencies) there is an immense scope for Human trafficking to thrive. Many of these young girls end up working in forced labour situations where they work without wages and
sometimes are also subjected to physical and sexual harassment. Till now, there
is no Central Legislation governing the regulation of domestic placement
agencies which protects these domestic workers.
