Two Bangladesh women at nari niketan to return home

DEHRADUN: Two women inmates of the nari niketan here, both citizens of Bangladesh, who were victims of human trafficking before being rescued, were on Saturday formally handed to the care of their country’s representatives.
“I am happy that the two of them will be joining their family members after such a long time,” said chief minister Harish Rawat, at whose home in Beejapur the send-off ceremony was held.
The two women had turned up in Dehradun two-and-half years ago and had been living at the nari niketan since then. Both will now be travelling to the Bangladesh border accompanied by Uttarakhand police officials. At the border they will be handed over to their family members.
The Bangladesh high commission, which was initially reluctant to accept that they were citizens of that country, finally agreed following discussions, official sources told TOI. Of the two women, one was brought to India on the pretext of being provided a job, while the other was allegedly fooled by her friends and made to cross the international border unknowingly and then sold to a brothel.
“The women disclosed significant facts such as they were locked inside a dark room in Delhi where they were beaten for not accepting the demands of the perpetrators. After escaping from the place, they boarded a train to Haridwar and ultimately reached Uttarakhand in 2014,” disclosed officials.
The Uttarakhand social welfare department had swung into action after allegations of sexual assault on inmates of the nari niketan at Kedarpuram in 2015. Since January this year the department has succeeded in reuniting around 80 inmates of these shelter homes with their families.
Disclosing about the route through which these inmates, who are mostly from other states and the neighbouring country landed in the Himalayan state which otherwise has a low crime rate, Manoj Chandran, additional secretary, Uttarakhand social welfare department, said, “Majority of the inmates in these shelter homes were victims of human trafficking of various types. Starting from child labour to organ donation, each one of them had a complicated story to tell about the networks of human traffickers. Their statements have been recorded by the court.”
According to the secretary, social welfare department, Bhupinder Kaur Aulakh, these inmates shall be provided proper safety even after reuniting with family members irrespective of their state or country of origin. She said, “The local administration and police in case of minor or mentally unwell inmates will be informed. All these efforts are being made so that the lives of these people remain invulnerable from society as well as criminals. Also, we are trying to give them a liveable healthy environment at the shelter homes for their holistic development.”
Most of the inmates who have been sent back so far were from Uttar Pradesh, accounting for 10, south Indian states and Nepal. According to the records of the department, the nari niketan still has inmates from Bangladesh and some states. Efforts are on to reunite them with their families.