By Lara Lessing | Program Officer
During a rescue operation, we found two minors and a young woman that were rescued successfully. This case story narrates the backstory of one of the minor girls.
Mira, 16 years, comes from a remote village in the Mandya district. She discontinued her education after she failed her SSLC exam. She is the only daughter of the family. The family was economically weak as the father works as a daily unskilled wage worker and was earning Rs.250/- per day. A trafficking gang targeted the family using a lover boy. The lover boy convinced Suma to accompany with him to Mysuru to meet some of his friends where she was taken hostage and taken to a house where she was sexually exploited by multiple customers for about six weeks.
The rescue team received information from one of our informants about brothel activities in a so-called “Lodging and Boarding Home” at Hunsur town, 50 Km away from Mysuru. In the meantime, Mira’s parents contacted us after receiving insufficient support from the local police. One of their undercover agents could confirm there were minors being kept in the Lodging and Boarding Home and Odanadi contact the police to set up a rescue operation. Upon rescue we discovered a hidden box in the brothel which was constructed to hide victims. The girls and woman were rescued, and the accused were taken into police custody.
During our aftercare counselling it was revealed that Mira was threatened by the brothel owners each time with photographs and videos of her being exploited. She had to attend to at least 4 customers a day. Victim Mira is currently in the shelter. She wants to continue her studies to become a beautician.
Currently, the court trial is ongoing. The prosecutor is behind the bars under POCSO Act which is non bailable. The trial will most likely last for a long time to finish but the aim is to get the accused behind bars and give Mira compensation.
Thankyou for supporting Mira and all the other girls, because of your support we can rescue the girls and help them integrate in society again. We keep on fighting sexual exploitation of children in India and Nepal together!
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