A day after the Foreigners’ Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) rejected the plea of four Bangladeshi women sheltered in Kozhikode to be allowed to go back to their native land, Arm of Joy, a voluntary organisation, and Punarjani, a women lawyers’ collective, have alleged that it was the negligence of the Kozhikode Police that caused it.
With the travel permit of the women getting expired on Sunday, it was up to the police department to produce the original travel permit before the FRRO. Apparently they failed to do it and hence the officer had to reject the women’s plea despite strong recommendations by the Child Welfare Committee and the public prosecutor of Malappuram.
Having been victims of sex trafficking in their early teens, three of the women, now in their twenties, have been residing in Kozhikode for the last eight years. The fourth girl came here two years ago and is barely 18 now. “The case concerning the first three is in court with one accused absconding. It is meaningless to detain the women in Kozhikode until the said accused is caught and the case progresses. It will be like victimising them further,” said Anoop G., director of Arm of Joy, that has been working relentlessly to send the women home.
A case registered in Bengaluru, in which the fourth woman was a victim, has sealed her fate. The Bengaluru Police, in their statement, refused to let her free. The statement pointed out that they were unable to start the investigation without the FSL report that would prove that she was subjected to sexual abuse. Incidentally, it was up to the Kozhikode Police to collect the report from the government laboratory in Thiruvananthapuram and send it to Bengaluru, which they have failed to do even after two years of registering the case. “It is sheer negligence on the part of the police,” said Mr. Anoop, adding that his organisation along with the Punarjani women lawyers’ collective would approach the National Human Rights Commission on the issue. The latter also plans to file a petition at the High Court of Kerala, highlighting the grave violation of human rights in the case.
