‘If you love someone set them free'
So goes a song by Sting. The staff at Oasis India's anti-trafficking project SACMEP have concern, love and a burden for people. This makes them put themselves in dangerous and unknown situations to save those who are already enslaved or in the danger of being enslaved.
SACMEP aims at preventing vulnerable women and children from being trafficked, prosecuting the traffickers and protecting those who have already become victims of this crime. Many minor victims are lured away from their families with the false hopes of better job prospects. For the traffickers, Komal was one such prospective innocent victim.
Komal, a Nepali girl, comes from a poor family. She wanted to contribute to the family’s income by working abroad. Her family was told by the trafficker that she would be sent to Saudi Arabia to work as a domestic help. Komal was excited at the prospects this job would bring to her poor family. Says Abbi Taylor, Case Manager, SACMEP, ‘Many of the victims feel responsible for their family. They feel that they are required to contribute and therefore they look for jobs where they can provide financially.’
Getting down to business
In Komal’s case, SACMEP investigators were tipped off by a partner NGO and they decided to rescue her at the railway station itself. When the train pulled into the station, SACMEP team members with the help of the RPF and other police officials asked the entire group to step aside. What followed was a story of lies and drama as each individual in the group gave a conflicting version of their travel.
Finally the police zeroed in on one woman who said she was heading the group and was going to take them to Saudi Arabia to work as domestic helps. Says Investigator Archana Kumar ‘The rest of the women including the trafficker were older and were let off by the police, but as Komal was a minor she was kept at a remand home. The traffickers tried their best to secure her release but to no avail.’
A hope for tomorrow
After a home study, SACMEP's social workers found that it was unsafe to send her back home as there were high chances that she would be trafficked again. Therefore, it was decided to send Komal to a center in Nepal. There she will acquire vocational skills and be able to earn a living and supplement her family’s income.
Abbi says ‘The hope is that this cycle of trafficking will stop here. We counsel Komal to understand that there are other ways of earning a living other than going abroad as a domestic help. This assures us that in the future the same thing would not happen to her or her children.’
Moreover, there was no assurance that Komal would actually be sent as a domestic help to Saudi Arabia. Statistics speak volumes about young Nepali girls sold into the flesh trade. To add to the speculation the group was allegedly going to Grant Road, an infamous red light area, en route to the airport.
SACMEP officials envision that Komal and many others like her would have a hope and a future beyond the clutches of traffickers. Their anticipation is very simple - a life free from slavery.
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