[Binny Yachu]
Many young girls and women have been prey to sex trade, forced marriage, child labour and domestic violence in the world. It is a crime which now is a business where we put a price tag on human beings and anything is sold in the market.
Arunachal Pradesh has emerged as a hub to witness trafficking of women and children who are forced into laborious activities. Lack of awareness, paucity of work opportunities and frequent natural disasters push women and children into the hands of traffickers. Repatriation and reintegration into the community is also a huge challenge for the survivors of violence, trafficking, missing and rescue cases.
On the occasion of International Women’s Day, we are glad to share one of the success stories of this month – a case of child trafficking which was busted with the support of the Arunachal Women Helpline (WHL)-181, and she was reunited with her biological family after 12 long years.
On 19 February, 2022, a survivor of domestic violence and child trafficking was identified at the Papu Hill police station, Naharlagun, and the case was received by WHL-181. The survivor was provided with protection, counselling and proper shelter at the Swadhar Greh (short-stay home) run by the Oju Welfare Association, and later the case was forwarded to the Arunachal Pradesh State Legal Services Authority (APSLSA), where the matter was taken up by a legal aid counsel for further process. When we recorded her statement, at the age of eight, her father was lured by a trafficker with false promises of work and education for them, and then soon her stepmother for a few tokens of money sold her to a person in Assam. Within a few hours, the trafficker brought her to the Banderdewa gate and sold her as a domestic helper to the Arunachal land.
After a few weeks of stay at the APST home, she was again sold off to another APST person. After a few years, the man of the family took her to an isolated jungle and forcibly raped her and proclaimed her his second wife. Her husband is 45 years old and he is a married person. He has five children from his first wife. At present, she is married to him, and she has borne two children with him. At the age of her adolescence, she is bound to do all household chores and look after her family. She seeks freedom to choose and decide to live on her own terms. But her husband questions all her activities, which constantly concludes in her being physically assaulted by her husband.
Her husband doesn’t allow her to go out and prohibits her from all social gatherings and social media platforms too. Under the watch of her husband, she dealt with all the restrictions and violence every day and every second in her life. One day, she went out with her friends to celebrate a festival, but later that night, her husband scolded and physically assaulted her. She became very frustrated and ran away from her home and filed a complaint against her husband.
The WHL-181 team accommodated assistance and asked the survivor for her necessities. We asked her if she wanted to lodge any complaint against anyone. She stated that whatever happened in her past couldn’t be changed. But she wishes to meet her biological family, which she lost 12 years ago. She was determined to meet her family and she requested the WHL-181 team to drop her at the Banderdewa gate. She wanted to track the location of her lost biological family, which included her mother, two younger sisters and one elder brother. She has already been sold numerous times and has lost all roads of her biological family members. She said, “I do not know anything about my past life. Everyone calls me ‘Yana’, which was the name given to me by my husband.”
She recollected her elder brother’s name and mumbled his name ‘Akramul’, crying and shouting “I want to meet my family, please save me!” With her fond memory, she recalled her village name, ‘Chandmari’.
The WHL-181 team was obliged to meet all her requirements as our team found out that she was a conceived woman. So, with that little information, the details of the case were immediately forwarded to the Lakhimpur one-stop centre (OSC).
With the help of the Lakhimpur OSC and the police who operated in the Chandmari village, they located her biological family. In less than no time, her biological family came to the WHL – 181 centre and the survivor was reunited with her biological family after 12 long years.
They had tears of joy and a blissful smile in their faces. It was such a heart-warming moment to be witnessed by our WHL-181 teams.
In the presence of her biological family and her husband, counselling was provided and her biological family and husband were asked to recognise their marriage through their local rituals in Assam by the WHL-181 project manager, and legal guidance, rightful justice and agreements were provided by the APSLSA legal counsel.
She agreed to reside with her husband of her own will. Today, she is living an ordinary life happily with her husband and her children and stays in contact with her biological family. She is very grateful to the WHL-181 and the team for all the aid and support provided to her.
We extend our sincere thanks to the Lakhimpur OSC for providing valuable services. It was a difficult task as the survivor was lost for 12 years and had a torn hazy photo of her taken 12 years ago when she was an eight-year-old child. Our special appreciation for the legal aid counselling provided by the Oju Welfare Association, and for the APSLSA for providing lawful justice to people in need and consistently helping the WHL-181 teams.
The above case is an exemplary case of child trafficking where many victims are still searching for their lost identities, and with accountable teamwork and assistance, we have achieved greater success in providing help and assistance to suffering women and children.
The Arunachal Women helpline-181 (toll-free) provides 24/7 services to all suffering women and children in need of help, which is run by the Oju Welfare Association, a non-profit organisation based in Naharlagun, Arunachal Pradesh.
The ICE deputy commissioner is our implementing authority and the women & child development (WCD) department is our nodal department for the implementation of the helpline in Arunachal Pradesh.
The Arunachal women helpline, 181, was first enacted in 2015 and came into force in 2016. From 2016 till date, a total of 1,104 cases have been registered, out of which 1,016 cases have been solved successfully. Since the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, a total of 240 cases of violence against women and children were reported, to which all the possible help and assistance to the sufferers were provided.
You can reach us through our toll-free number 181, WhatsApp number 94368522220, landline number 0360-23503770, and through our Facebook page, Arunachal Women Helpline, and email ID whlap181@gmail.com.
The WHL-181 never holds back in providing our services, and our teams are always looking forward to contributing our service for the betterment of the society and bringing a revolutionary change to control crimes against women and children. (Binny Yachu is project manager, Arunachal Women Helpline-181.)
