Slavery for life at the cost of Thousand Rupees only! An Investigative Report

The Untold, Unsung, Unrevealed stories...

By The CrossCurrent On Dec 5, 2022

‘One of our friend spoke to her. She told him to took her back from Arunachal Pradesh. But our contractor told us not to involve in this’

Gautam Pratim Gogoi

- Donation -

Child trafficking is at present a regular activity of some people of Assam. These trafficker mainly target the poor and backward villager of rural area. Trafficking mainly child trafficking is about taking children out of their protective guidance of their parents or guardian and later these children are used for the purpose of exploitation.

The main purpose of child trafficking is to use those children as bonded labour ,domestic helper and sometimes they are used as sex workers. These children do not get proper environment, proper education or proper treatment if they become sick.

Can you believe that girls from Assam become slave for life only at Rs 2000? These girls use to become slave for whole life and in return the family gets a negligible amount .These girls have to spend their lives as servent at the residence of Arunachali people.Once they are sent to Arunachal,they are no longer allowed to come back to their home or to meet their parents. Even their parents,friends and other relatives usually have no proper information about the whereabouts of those girls. This is the pathetic and real scenario of some poor villager of Assam’s Lakhimpur district.The Cross Current team has visited those villages and here is the details of our investigation.

How Phoolmoni’s daughter trapped by trafficker?

It was 2021,the month was November.Two persons came to their hut.Their aim was to get a girl among the three daughters of Phoolmoni and to supply it to a family of Arunachal Pradesh.( For security purpose,we will named the girl as Monorita).The girl Monorita was 14 years old at that time.Monorita’s mother told us that Monorita was studying in class 3 at that time.Two persons came to their place and introduced themselves as Anita and Lulu.They told them that they would send the girl to a rich childless couple of Arunachal Pradesh .They told that the couple would provide all facilities to Monorita and would educate her at good school .They also assured that the couple also would pay Rs 2000 per month to Phoolmoni’s family.

দৰিদ্ৰতাই কোঙা কৰা ফুলমনিৰ জৰাজীৰ্ণ ঘৰটো — **The hut which symbolises Phoolmoni’s poverty**

After one month, Anita and Lulu came to their house again.This time their proposal was for the second girl child of Phoolmoni.Again we are changing the name and we will mention their second daughter as Nibedita.At that time Nibedita was a student of class 2 and she was 12 years old.The poor family again handed over the second daughter to Anita and Lulu.

But an unfortunate news had come to their family regarding Monorita. Someone informed Phoolmoni that Monorita was not there where she was. Phoolmoni had no option besides informing Anita and Lulu. But these two people did not give importance and totally ignored it.Helpless Monorita went to Arunachal and informed the police about Monorita. After three days, Monorita was recovered from a child care home .The child care center was situated at a very interior area of Arunachal Pradesh. When Phoolmoni recovered her, Monorita’s physical condition was not good,she even could not stand by herself.

শাৰীৰিকভাৱে বিধ্বস্ত হৈ মৃত্যুক আঁকোৱালি লোৱা মনৰিটাজনী — **Monorita, who succumbed to death**

Though she was brought back to home, she succumbed to death after a fews days. After the death of her first daughter, Phoolmoni brought back her second daughter to her home. But according to Phoolmoni, the family who kept Nibedita as servent did not pay a single penny to them though she served there for six months.

How many girl child from Assam are there in Arunachal?

This is only an example.Not only Monorita or Nibedita,there are lots of girls who are serving there in Arunachal Pradesh as servent.The parents were told that they would provide good education and good life to those girls at their residences but in practical these unlucky parents use to loss all connections with those families and sometimes even their own daughter for good.

Sometimes these girls were engaged for antisocial activities but the victims as well as victim’s family do not disclose everything before our team . These people are basically poor and they are afraid of police and any other judicial activities. Because they think if they confess and give details of the real scenerio ,no one will help them. They do not want to go to the police station because they think its very expensive .

**The real pathetic scenerio of Sonapur Gormur village**

There are at least 90 families at Phoolmoni’s village.Less than 2 or 3 persons among them are government employees.Their main source of income is daily wage.There is no school at that village.If someone wants to go to school,then they have to go to nearby other villages on foot. Their standard of living is very poor. So,they were targetted by the human trafficker.

What did Monorita and Nibedita do in Arunachal?

We spoke to Nibedita regarding her experience.She told us that she spent her first night at Lulu’s house and the very next day she was shifted to a house of Hafli area.Though at her home before her parents they promised to provide education to her,in reality she was engaged for washing clothes and utensils,to look after the baby of the couple .She was not paid a single penny for that six months .

How did Pranita fled away from Arunachal?

Lulu and Anita had targetted girls from different places of that district. We also visited another village called Silanibari, Kuhiarbari. The village is at a place where there is no connection of bridges. The place is known as Kuhiarbari. We went to meet Lotho Horo who lives at a single room hut.Lotho’s daughter Pranita was also a victim. She was also supplied to a family of Arunachal by Lulu and Anita along with Monorita. Promise was same that they would get Rs 2000 per month and she would be admitted at good school.

**Pranita’s village without bridge i.e the ‘river way’ to the backward village**

We wished to talk with Pranita.We asked her father “Can we speak with Pranita now?” But Pranita’s father told that her maternal uncle had taken her again to Arunachal .

অৰুণাচলৰ পৰা পলাই অহাৰ পাছত আকৌ লৈ যোৱা হ'ল এইগৰাকী প্ৰণীতাক — **Pranita who fled away from Arunachal**

Is Sonia alive or dead : Parents have no information

There is a village called Bahbari which is situated near Pranita’s village. A villager of Bahbari, named Ranjit Throrier has three children.In 2007, his daughter went to Arunachal with a person whose name was Raju. At that time ,Ranjit’s daughter, Sonia was only 7 years old. Raju promised that their daughter will be brought up by a childless couple and they will provide good school to educate her. It has already crossed 15 years but Sonia’s parents has not received any information related to her till date. They have no idea whether Sonia is alive or not. Till 2012 they sometimes used to speak with her through a mobile number. But since 2012 ,the mobile number has not been active and they lost all connections.

**Sonia who left her home at the age of 7 and now if she is alive, she is 22**

How Jonas’s sister is captivated in Arunachal Pradesh ?

Jonas Dhanuka is a 28 year old youth from Gormur Sonapur village.He has two sisters whose age are of 15 years .We went to Janas Dhanuka’s hut.But his hut was locked and we came to know that there was none at that hut now.

We spoke to Jonas over phone and he told us that his two sisters were in Arunachal. One is married to an Arunachali guy. It seemed that Jonas did not want to speak more regarding this.But another youth Dilip Goria told us the real incident which Jonas did not want to disclose before us. Dilip told “We went for some work at power grid at Pakke Kesang district. We then met a girl who came to work at paddy field. We noticed that the girl always used to cry when she worked at the paddy field. I could recognise her as Jonas’s sister and l wished to talk to her. But our contractor did not allow us to talk to her and warned us if we would speak to her then we might face danger there.”

According to Dilip, Jonas’s sister Amina went to Arunachal more than 10 years ago.

Who are these people,named Anita,Raju and Lalu?

According to Monorita and Nibedita’s parents, their daughter went to Arunachal along with Anita and Lulu.But who are they?The victim family has no information about Anita and Lulu. They do not know from where these two persons have come from? Monorita had given us phone number and we tried to call at that number. But his number was switched off. Pranita’s parents also did not know the actual address of Raju. Once Pranita’s aunt met Raju and asked about Pranita but Raju did not say anything about her. But who are these people Anita, Raju and Lulu who are engaged in child trafficking?

What did Police say?

We had spoken to the Superintendent of Police of Lakhimpur district. He informed us that they have taken necessary actions against the complaint which they have received. But surprisingly, the victims whom we met at the time of investigative reporting, they never went to police station to register complaint. Here is a question. Are these child trafficking activities going on full swing without the knowledge and concern of Police!

These are some examples only.According to the data available with National Crime Report Bureau ,total number of 288 child under the age of 18 are falling in the trap of child trafficker.

In 2018,the no of such cases registered is 179,in 2019,the no of case registered is 48 and in 2020 the no of registered case is 61.But it is sure and certain ,that number of such incidents will be more because the parents and guardians whom we met at the interior villages of Lakhimpur had not informed to the police .

Clear violation of National and International law

In 2010, Supreme Court had ordered Assam and Manipur government that both the governments should make it sure that no children under the age of 12 are allowed to go to other state for educational purpose.

According to the decision of Child Right Protection Conference of UNO, without the will of child ,no child can be kept away from their parents. The government of India also agreed with this proposal.

According to the juvenile justice Act 2000, if child belongs to a state have to send to other state, then it is compulsory to collect NOC and case history from the respective family members as well as from their neighborhood.

But under any circumstances , the first priority is to keep the child with parents. Though child trafficking is completely illegal and banned but it is going on in full swing at the interior places of bordering district of Assam.

The most unfortunate thing is that no law has touched these unfortunate girls like Monorita,Pranita,Amina and they are compelled to continue a deplorable life .