The story of Laxmi from Tirupati

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ATC RELEASE : Network works:

The Story of Laxmi from Tirupati

We are now in regular touch with several networks working against trafficking.

This is one operation we handled together since 21 Feb.

On the afternoon of 21 Feb 2002 we received a call from Dr. Suneetha of

Prajwala Hyderabad about a 16 year old girl Laxmi (name changed) having been

trafficked to Pune in the first week of Jan 02. This was confirmed by Mr.

Ramkrishna of RISE Tirupati ANDHRA Pradesh to whose project area the girl

belonged and who had brought the case to their network in AP. Allegedly

neighbourhood woman had taken away Laxmi on 6th Jan 2002 by assuring her parents

a job for her in Mumbai or Pune. On her return to the village this lady gave

some money to Laxmi's parents stating that Laxmi had been placed properly in a

job and the employer had given some advance salary too. The parents were highly

pleased and thanked the woman.

Sometime in third week of Feb 02 Laxmi got the first opportunity to access a

nearby telephone and sent a message to her father backhome in Tirupati stating

that she had been sold to a brothel in Pune by the woman who had taken her from

her village under the pretext of giving a job, and was living an extremely

traumatized and horrible life in the flesh trade and that the father should

get her out from that place.

That shocked the father who then approached social worker Mr. Ramkrishna of

RISE. Ramkrishna got in touch with Suneetha at Hyderabad. Suneetha got in touch

with us at ATC Prerana on 21st Feb seeking our intervention in rescuing the

girl. We obviously did not want to delay and got into action immediately.

On that particular day four of our social workers were far out of Bombay on

work. Priti was at Kolkata conducting a session at the CHILDLINE's National

Meet. The social worker of CHILDLINE Pune was also at Kolkata.

I mobilized our NACSET founder member Dr. Girish Kulkarni of Snehalaya

Ahmednagar that is 2 hours drive from Pune city. Girish had barely seen one

visiting team off but agreed to leave immediately. He left for Pune the same

night. Went to the police station. Took a police team from the Shukrawar peth

police station and searched the suspected buildings in Shukrawar Peth in vain.

There were clear difficulties in identifying the girl and Girish knew that he

should not be giving too many details on that girl to the local people lest the

traffickers should get to know about it and whisk that girl away from that place

for ever. I was in constant touch with Dr. Girish. After some search the team

returned to the police station. The team obviously needed some more particular

identification details on the minor. He called up and made me speak to the

police station in charge. He also assured me that he would hang around in Pune

for a few more hours within which if I could get some more details then he would

search that building as also a few nearby buildings with a police team again.

I desperately tried to get in touch with the groups in Hyderabad seeking a

scanned photograph of the girl sent on e mail or at least a faxed one … but no

one could be contacted.

That day's mission got aborted ! Dr. Girish returned to Ahmednagar without

failing to remind me to get a photograph of the girl and assuring that he would

give a second trial and a third one.

We then spoke to Suneetha in Hyderabad and RISE in Tirupati suggesting to send

the girl's father to Pune for personal identification. The idea got accepted.

Suneetha and Ramkrishna promptly agreed to send one social worker each with the

father for the rescue and the follow up.

We then spoke to Ms. Meena Kurlekar senior social worker of Vanchit Vikas a

NACSET member from Pune city seeking its help in providing some staying facility

for the visiting team from AP. Next day Meena suggested that the AP team should

on arrival book any reasonable hotel in front of the station and the VV will

reimburse the expenses.

We spoke to Dr. Anuradha Sahasrbuddhe of CHILDLINE Pune who had returned from

the Kolkata meet. She agreed to take the local responsibility of arranging the

rescue of the girl accompanying the AP team and also helping them with the

follow up.

We wrote to Ms. Sridevi Goel IG Maharashtra Police to help who suggested some

names from Pune police who could be contacted for help.

We left detailed instructions and suggestions on the operation and the care to

be taken. There were some problems in coordination in boarding the train and

the father and the RISE social worker reached Pune only on Wednesday night.

Shanti the social worker from Prajwala had reached a little earlier.

We discussed the plan and the sequence of steps with them in details almost like

a rehearsal.

It was then decided to take the action the next morning.

The next day on Thu 28th Feb all of them with the police party got into the

Shukrawar Peth redlight area. Laxmi had been made to hide into a hole by her

brothel keeper.

Laxmi was rescued.

The daughter and the father had a charged reunion.

There were obvious stories circulated by the traffickers, agents of flesh trade

and the pimps that the building in which the brothels were run belonged to an

IPS officer and there was no way the police would cooperate. The AP team since

it was a total stranger to Pune obviously got a little apprehensive for some

time but persisted in spite of all the odds. We tried our best to tell them that

such stories are circulated in all cities to terrorize the victim girls and

their parents and to unnerve the social workers who venture to help the girls.

I drafted the important points for the FIR and mailed them to CHILDLINE and

explained the next logical steps to be taken by different parties to the event.

We tried to tell them to insist on a proper medical examination of the girl,

proper age verification test as well as on registering the offence under

Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act 1991.

Laxmi was placed at the Observation home.

The local sub Inspector who gave excellent cooperation in rescuing the girl

allegedly first tried to demotivate the social workers from going ahead with the

FIR. Ultimately however he cooperated. Dr. Anuradha of CHILDLINE Pune and her

team worked with persistence and determination and helped the AP team

throughout. They also got an advocate from Pune as a volunteer.

We left messages to the AP team to buy some essentials for themselves as the

next day 1st March was declared to be the State Bandh (closed) in protest of the

Gujarat massacre. We also informed the AP team that perhaps no follow up may be

done by anyone on the following day as we had predicted that the Maharashtra

Bandh would be strictly followed in Pune. Notwithstanding the Bandh Laxmi was

taken for medical examination on 1st March by the police.

The mere facts that in all 6 organizations from Mumbai, Pune, Ahmednagar,

Hyderabad, Tirupati worked together in a concerted manner with determination

itself shows that Networking is getting mainstreamed.

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Forwared by Aditya Bondyopadhyay

E-mail: <adit_bond_2@...>

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