Families Sold Their Relatives To Be Trafficked

From the Times of India:

MOTIHARI: Trafficking of poor girls by unscrupulous persons or gangs along the Indo-Nepal border here is common, but local people were shocked to know that a father sold his daughter and a husband sold his young wife for money.

According to reports, one Rina Kumari (20) has lodged a complaint case in the court of chief judicial magistrate, Motihari, against her father Nagina Yadav and one Ram Kumar Singh. Nagina is a resident of Thawe and Ram Kumar hails from Bhojpurwa village of the Gopalganj district. Both are friends and are involved in liquor business.

Rina's mother died 10 years ago and her stepmother neglected Reena and her two younger brothers. Unable to bear the agony, Rina's brothers left the house, but Rina stayed there. Reena's stepmother then asked Nagina to sell his daughter to his friend Ram Kumar Singh for Rs 15,000 three years ago.

Later, Ram Kumar forced Rina to join a musical group and earn money. She joined a musical group of Gopalganj, but later shifted to Motihari and joined Shiva Musical Group. Now, she has become a good dancer and earns money.

Speaking to TOI , Rina said she had signed a contract of three years with the musical group of Motihari and got Rs 40,000 as contract money. But, Ram Kumar arrived at Motihari on January 30 and snatched the money from her.

She alleged that police did not lodge a case in this regard so she filed a complaint in the court.

"My wicked father spoiled my life. I will try my best so that he and Ram Kumar are punished," she said.In another incident, one Baleshwar Mahto, a rural worker of Kalyanpur village in East Champaran district, sold his young wife Nitu (21) to a person of Rajasthan, through a middleman, at a price of Rs 10,000.

The Kalyanpur police officer in-charge Priyavrat said Nitu's father has lodged a case with the police station that his daughter Nitu has been missing.

Police interrogated Baleshwar who confessed that he sold Nitu because he needed money. Later, sub-inspector Srikant went to Rajasthan in search of the girl, but it proved futile.

Chakia DSP BP Rajak said Baleshwar Mahto and the middleman have been arrested and further investigation is going on.

*Because of economic need, relatives selling their sons or daughters to traffickers is not uncommon in the Philippines. Oftentimes a relative such as an aunt, uncle or cousin can be involved in setting up a meeting with a trafficker promising a job waitressing in the city or abroad but actually involving prostitution or some form of exploitation. The NGOs I worked with in the Philippines make sure to check if the victim's family played a role in the trafficking and if so, instead of reintegrating them into their home community, they will look for other shelter options for the victim such as a relative's or friend's house in another part of the country.