A woman from West Bengal, who was allegedly trafficked to a brothel in Delhi in 2021 and rescued in May this year, was reunited with her son on Monday.
When she was taken to Delhi, she had a four-year-old son with her. The boy was kept at a shelter home near the red-light district on GB Road, police said.
The woman was rescued in May this year. But the child, who continued to stay at the shelter home, was finally reunited with his mother on Monday.
A team from West Bengal police and a rights activist accompanied the woman to Delhi to get the child back.
“We have got the child. Both the mother and the child are with us,” said an officer of Bengal police, the investigating officer of the case who is in Delhi with the woman.
The woman, from South 24-Parganas district, was deserted by her husband and was living with her parents and brothers when she was trafficked.
“She worked at a zari unit. A man, also from South 24-Parganas, befriended her with the lure of a better life. She went to meet him near the Dakshin Barasat station, taking her son along. The man brought her to Delhi and sold her,” said Kakali Das of Goranbose Gram Bikas Kendra (GGBK), an NGO which works for rescue and rehabilitation of trafficking survivors.
Based on a missing complaint filed by the woman’s brother, the police started a probe. The woman, who was taken to the brothel on GB Road, Delhi’s infamous redlight district, was forced into prostitution.
“Cellphone tower locations traced her to Delhi. The search got momentum after she made a call to her brother from the mobile of a customer,” said the investigating officer.
Mission Mukti Foundation, a partner organisation of GGBK, assisted the police in tracking the woman.
“More than one raid was conducted on GB Road but the woman could not be found. However, the traffickers got scared. They put the woman on a Howrah-bound train on May 19. The brothel owner and pimp were hopeful that the woman might come back because her son was in Delhi,” said Virender Singh of Mission Mukti Foundation.
The woman called her brother again from the train. A team from West Bengal police received her in Bardhaman station.
“The man who trafficked her to Delhi was arrested soon after her arrival. But he is out on bail now,” said Das of Goranbose Gram Bikas Kendra.
In a letter addressed to the chairperson of Delhi Child Welfare Committee, the woman has alleged that a pimp at the brothel “forced” her to admit her son to the shelter home. She also accused a “masterji” of the home of being in cahoots with the pimp.
She had to pay Rs 2,000 every month for the “maintenance” of the child when such homes are supposed to be free of cost, the letter alleged.
Singh, who also helped in rescuing the child, said there were discrepancies in the process of his admission into the shelter, which is home to several sex workers’ children.
A social investigation report and a home investigation report are needed before any child is admitted to a shelter home. In the case of this child, none of the formalities were done,” said Singh.
Delhi CWC has sought an explanation from the home.
The home authorities denied the allegations.
“The mother herself had admitted the child to our home. She came to visit him more than once,” said an official of the home.
Education board panel
The education department appointed an ad-hoc committee to helm the state primary education board two months after the high court’s directive to remove Manik Bhattacharya from the post of board president after charges of irregularities in appointment of teachers.
On Tuesday, the department said Goutam Paul, pro-vice-chancellor of Kalyani University, will act as president of the committee, which will be in existence for a year. The committee has 11 members from the field of education.
Subhankar Chowdhury
