Their stories have the same hellish ring to them, early marriage, a deal struck by a mashi or didi that saw them get jobs as domestic helps, followed by torture at the hands of employers and then a lucky escape.

Five girls (all between 12 and 16) of Sahebganj, West Singhbhum, Khunti and Gumla, who were recently rescued from Delhi and neighbouring areas, shared their life stories at the child labour commission's office at the district collectorate on Thursday.

Radha, a 16-year-old girl from Digra Rakso village in Borio block of Sahebganj district, was inconsolable. She wanted to go home.

Youngest of three siblings, Radha, said she could study only till Class V in a local government middle school. She had to stop going to school after her mother died in 2005.

" Meri ma mujhe bahut padhana chahti thi, lekin uske jane ke baad meri padhai chuuth gayee (My mother wanted me to study always, but I couldn't continue studies after her demise)," she said.

It all started after her elder sister got married. "I too was then forced into marriage at the age of 12 by my elder brother. But, I could not stay with my husband and came back to my house after a week. But, my elder brother could not tolerate it and started beating me so that I go back."

Radha then left home and started living with her elder sister.

There, a " didi" worked out a job for her in Delhi. "On May 6, 2016, I left for Delhi and started working as a maid in Dwarka. But after 10 days, an elderly person in the house tried to impose himself on me. Somehow, I managed to escape and reached Delhi railway station from where Delhi police brought me to Sanskar, a shelter home," she said.

Radha and the others reached Ranchi on Thursday at 4.30am by Swarna Jayanti Express. The train was supposed to reach at 7pm on Wednesday. Two of them are from Sahebganj, one from West Singhbhum and one each from Khunti and Gumla. They all dropped out of school under similar circumstances and ended up working as maids in areas like Dwarka, Punjabi Bagh, Gurgaon and Noida.

While one of them had been working as a maid for a year, the others had suffered for various lengths of time, ranging from one month and six months. But all managed to give their employers' the slip. Investigations are on to track their employers.

Their rescue was coordinated by Jharkhand Child Labour Commission that collaborated with NGOS like Action Against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children (ATSEC) and Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA).

A six-member team left for New Delhi on Tuesday and after the girls were counselled at the shelter home and Child Welfare Commission (Delhi) gave the nod, the girls were brought back to capital Ranchi.

Sita Kumari (14), a resident of Chorapat village in Bishunpur block of Gumla district, was sold by her aunt. She was taken to Delhi on May 23, 2016 and worked as a domestic help at Noida. " Lekin mein ek saptah mein bhag gayee (Within a week, I escaped)," she said, adding that her employer used to pile work on her and beat her up.

"I was wandering about in Noida when a police constable took me to Sanskar shelter home," she said.

All the five rescued girls, who were produced before Child Welfare Committee member Meera Mishra, would be staying at Premashray, a shelter home for girls near Ranchi railway station. "We will try and find out about their interests... whether they want to pursue education or get involved in skill development. After that we will decide accordingly," Mishra said.

According to Shanti Kindo, chairperson of Jharkhand Child Labour Commission, they had been pursuing their case for the past six months after receiving a tip-off from the anti-human trafficking unit (AHTU) in Delhi. "We received an escort order from CWC members in Delhi and sent a six-member team reached Delhi to bring them back," he said.

Child labour commission member Sanjay Mishra said they had started rescue operations in big cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta.

"This was a major breakthrough. After launching a transit home in New Delhi in 2011, we are able to bring back several of our children. In the past five years, we have rescued 785 children," he said.

(Names of the rescued girls have been changed to protect their identity)