Seven Bangladeshi women trafficked to Chennai over a year ago have finally been sent back to their country after the intervention of Woman and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi, who
helped expedite their rescue and rehabilitation.
Maneka not only helped get clearances from Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for their repatriation but also arranged for their free air commute through Air India.
“An NGO Madras Christian Council of Social Services (MCCSS) were trying to get these women sent back to Bangladesh for over a year but could not do as they could not get the necessary clearances from the MEA and MHA,” said an official from the WCD.
“They sought the attention of WCD minister in March this year, after which the minister flew to Chennai to meet the victims personally. Thereafter, she helped expedite the required clearances to help these women unite with their families,” said the official.
The official said the seven Bangladeshi women received a “leave India Notice” on July 11, after which the NGO flew the victims to Dhaka and handed them over to their victims last week.
“The women were separately brought from Dhaka to Kolkata on the pretext of job opportunities and travel. later they were taken to Bengaluru and sold to brothels, where they were ill-treated and assaulted by pimps or brokers,” said the WCD official.
“later, they were brought to Chennai, from where they were rescued in separate raids by the NGO and police who were trying to get them repatriated,” said the official.
“lately, Tamil Nadu seems to have become the source, transit and destination point for traffickers. We have been rescuing a lot of women, who have been trafficked from Bangladesh and north-east for the last few years,” said a member from the MCCSS, which has partnered with WCD ministry under the Ujjawala scheme, for prevention of trafficking and rescue, rehabilitation and re-integration of victims of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation.
“The usual rescue and send-off process takes about 2-3 months but this time it took us more than eight months. We were desperately trying to repatriate these women but were unable to do as getting was taking very long, this is when we approached the Minister, who offered to help,” said the member.
The MCCSS has partnered with light House, an NGO in Dhaka, which helps in conducting background checks for the women.