A minor Bangladeshi girl, Sona (name changed), who was allegedly trafficked by a gang and was rescued by officials here, has been languishing in an NGO home in the capital city for over one-and-a-half year now.
The 16-year-old girl was brought to India by her neighbour, Jasmine, from Cox’s Bazar district in Bangladesh in October 2014. When Jasmine tried to hand over Sona to two youngsters at the railway station here, she raised an alarm and the police came to her rescue. Jasmine and the youth escaped from the scene.
Sona was produced before the local Child Welfare Committee, which handed her to the care of Women Development and Child Welfare (WD&CW) Department. The department shifted her to a home run by an NGO. She has been stuck in the home and all efforts to repatriate the girl seem to have failed.
“My sister (that is how she referred to Jasmine) lured me saying that I could get a remunerative job in India and I trusted her. She brought me in a train, took some amount from two youth who were waiting at the Vijayawada railway station, and tried to hand over me over to them. Suspecting some foul play, I cried out for help and subsequently I landed in this home,” Sona recalled.
“Jasmine speaks Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil and other languages well and she is maintaining contacts with some child trafficking gangs in Andhra Pradesh and the neighbouring States. She utilised her network to sell Sona to a flesh trade gang,” said a WD&CW officer.
Speaking to The Hindu on Tuesday, Krishna District WD&CW Project Director K. Krishna Kumari said that a representation had been made to the Bangladesh government to reunite Sona with her parents, but there had been no response till now. District Child Protection Officer Ch. Vijay Kumar said discussions were held with the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) of West Bengal, which promised to bring the girl back to Bangladesh through some mediators.
“Sona is insisting that she be taken back to her native place. She has been in touch with her mother and other family members over phone. However, the repeated phone calls from Bangladesh are raising doubts,” said an official running the home.
Interestingly, a police official said that the ‘illegal stay’ of the girl was not brought to the notice of the police.
