Fifteen-year-old Dalit girl Kamala (name changed) thought she was lucky when she was rescued from the clutches of the woman who had pushed her into flesh trade. But, the teenager returned home only to find that her family did not want her back because of the “stigma” she carried.
The girl, a 7th standard dropout, is presently housed in a government-run girls’ home and hopes to continue her education.
‘Spotted by well-wisher’
The woes of Kamala, from Turuvekere taluk in Tumakuru district, began when she was spotted by Ratna, a “well-wisher”, in the house of her grandmother. The girl’s mother had died when she was three months old and her father, a fruit vendor, had remarried. Kamala had since then relocated to her grandmother’s house.
Ratna befriended Kamala and her grandmother over a period of six months, pretending to be a sympathiser. She occasionally took the girl to her house at Turuvekere. On one such visit, Ratna locked Kamala up in a room and never let her go back. She allegedly forced her into sex work.
Speaking to The Hindu about her ordeal, Kamala said, “She threatened to kill me if I refused to do what was asked of me.” At least three men visited her every day, the girl said. She was later shifted to Tiptur, where she was taken to hotels.
It was after one of the girl’s cousins spotted her in Tiptur, while she was entering a hotel, that she was rescued with help from the police.
No open arms
What awaited Kamala when she returned to her village was shocking. “After my father came to know about what I had been through, he declared that I would be better off dead. He told people to pour kerosene on me and kill me rather than bring me home,” the girl said.
One goal
Member of District Child Welfare Committee, S. Ramesh, said that though the girl’s grandmother was ready to let Kamala live with her, one of her cousins refused to allow her in. This was how she landed in the girls’ home in Tumakuru. “I want to study, become a teacher, and look after my grandmother,” said Kamala.
Curiously, though the police rescued Kamala, they initially sent the girl home without registering a case against Ratna, alleged Mr. Ramesh. It was only later, at the insistence of activists, that they registered a case.
District Child Protection Officer, Vasanthi Uppar, said the CWC had written to the SP to register a case under the POCSO Act, 2012, and the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1986. Cases have been registered against Ratna and her accomplices Nagaratna and Nagendra.
After my father came to know about what I had been through, he told people to pour kerosene on me and kill me rather than bring me home
The victim
