*Names have been changed to protect identities.
When WIN’s anti-trafficking leader, Anju* heard cries of distress, she discovered a young woman being abused by a man. The man set off on his motorbike, and Anju learned the story of the 18-year-old girl Vaani*, who had recently come to the city searching for a job to help support her impoverished parents and younger siblings.
The trafficker had captured her by offering her free accommodation and job placement assistance. She had believed him. But instead, he had made her a captive, raped her, and sold her out to others for sex. A member of his gang of miscreants would come and pick her up and drop her at the customer’s location, then pick her up and bring her back. Vaani wasn’t the only victim; he did this with many girls. When Anju discovered Vaani, the trafficker was beating her because she was resisting his demand to help him entrap more girls into his lurid slavery.
Anju took Vaani to get a medical test, and the report showed distressing evidence of profound damage inflicted upon Vaani’s body by this man, including scars and bruises from ongoing abuse. Anju filed a case against the trafficker, and we hope the photographic evidence she captured of him and his motorbike leads to his arrest.