She was probably fresh out of school and in dire need of a job. Her father, a vegetable seller was also an alcoholic, so the family barely made their ends meet. A couple in her locality promised her a job in Jaipur and this 17-year-old girl travelled all the way from Delhi to Jaipur with them for the job. Only it wasn’t a job, it was her worst nightmare. She was gang-raped repeatedly by 11 men for several hours in a hotel in Jaipur.
On August 29, the couple – Rocky and Rani – allegedly approached her offering a job for Rs 60,000 a month. The girl needed money for her father’s treatment and agreed to accompany them to Jaipur. She didn’t suspect anything as the couple claimed they ran an NGO, which helped women become self-sufficient, says the complaint.
On reaching Jaipur, the girl was taken to Hotel Indraprastha for an “interview” in room number 406. In reality, the couple and the manager of the hotel were all into human trafficking and the girl was sold to a trafficker.
A man named Shekhar forced her to undress and then raped her. Rocky, along with two others, Arjun and Kamal, arrived after some time and locked the door. The girl was then allegedly raped through the day by the men.
At one point she was forced to have sex with eight or nine men. A woman named Payal was tasked to get her ready every time a customer arrived.
The ordeal continued till August 31. Her captors had left a window open that day and she managed to climb out and escape through the rear gate. She then went to the bus stop and returned to Delhi. After reaching Dhaula Kuan, she called her brother and told him about the ordeal. A case was registered the next day.
The only saving grace in her entire ordeal is that she escaped before they could make her a slave. Other women, who were similarly promised jobs by the same couple have not been so lucky. The police are now trying to trace their whereabouts.
Modern slavery or human trafficking is one of the most rampant and horrifying forms of abuse. Many of these women, men and children are imprisoned, made to work for 22 hours a day in horrible work conditions, raped and beaten up day after day, forced into flesh trade, and face all kinds of torture without any hope for escape. And India unfortunately, ranks big in trafficking. Today there are 35.8 million modern slaves (bonded labour and sex slaves) across the world, according to Global Slavery Index, and India hosts more than half of them.
Whether the government is fully aware about the wide-spread prevalence and ramifications of this issue is anybody’s guess. We still don’t have anti-trafficking units established in every state, the annual budget for this unit is not big either. The last we heard, a budget of 53 crores was granted for anti-trafficking scheme for the period of 2010 – 2013. Is a budget of Rs 53 crores enough to combat a trafficking problem that has affected 17 million people across the country? Your guess is as good as mine.
Image Courtesy: Reuters
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