MP helps rescue trafficked girls

KOLKATA: Thirteen girls from Bengal including eight minors were rescued from Pune and brought back to the city in four batches over the past few weeks. These girls have been handed over to their families, thanks to the initiative of CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta. These girls were trafficked for flesh trade.
Dasgupta's tryst with these exploited girls began a few days before the state assembly elections.One fine day, the MP's driver brought a woman to his house saying that the latter's 16-year-old daughter Babita Naskar (name changed) was missing for a few months.
"My daughter went missing in December last year. I lodged a complaint with the police but I did not get help. One day in March, I got a call from my daughter saying that she was being forced to work in a brothel. The call got disconnected hastily before I could confirm the place," narrated Naskar who works as a domestic help in the southern fringes of the city.
With that bit of information, she approached Dasgupta.
"We traced the number was one from Pune. I managed to get hold of a contact number of the commissioner of police (CP) Pune and told her about the girl," narrated Dasgupta.
Within hours, Pune CP Meeran Chadha Borwankar called Dasgupta saying that the girl has been traced along with three other minor girls from West Bengal. The girls were subsequently handed over to their families by Child Welfare Committee after the MP submitted a written undertaking that he would take care of their rehabilitation.
"I had simultaneously got in touch with a very senior police officer in Kolkata and also a high ranking government official requesting their help to trace the girl. They did not even care to look into the matter. But I was surprised as well as overwhelmed with the response from Pune police," said Dasgupta who is also the AITUC (All India Trade Union Congress) general secretary.
In the meantime, the AITUC in Kolkata got in touch with their counterparts in Pune to collaborate on the rescue of more girls from Bengal forced into sex trade in Pune red light areas. Subsequently, nine more girls were rescued and handed over to their families on Dasgupta's undertaking.
"During my visit to Pune's Rescue Foundation where the rescued girls were lodged, we came across 25 more girls including 10 minors from Bengal staying there. One of them told me that she was forced to entertain 20 clients a day. Her plight brought tears in my eyes. The process of bringing back those 25 girls are on," said Dasgupta.
Most of these girls are from South and Norh 24 Parganas. Some were lured with promises of jobs while some were sold to brothels after fake marriages. AITUC is taking up plans for the rehabilitation of these rescued girls.