Trafficked women start life afresh after training

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Fifty young trafficked women are now working as security guards at a government-run school here and some corporate houses after the CRPF offered to train them, giving them a chance to start life afresh.

"Over 50 young women were given security training by the CRPF at Burmu in Ranchi district," Sanjay Kumar Mishra, state Coordinator of Action against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children and Women, said.

Most of the women have now found employment as security guards at the government-run Kasturba Girls School while some corporate houses have also engaged them in their projects, he said.

Besides these 50 women, many other trafficked girls in the state have now have a better life after undergoing training. 19-year-old Sahita, who was lured to Delhi on the promise of a job and made to work for hours as a domestic help, has now a better life after being rehabilitated as a housekeeper in a hotel here in Jharkhand's capital.

"I was made to work for 14 to 16 hours a day. I was not allowed to go out. I was virtually imprisoned and taken sexually advantage of till I was rescued by a NGO in 2008," said Sahita.

Similar is the tale of Sabita Kujur who also fell prey to the guiles of a trafficker. "I belong to a remote village in Jharkhand known for migration and trafficking. I was a school student when I was trafficked," she said.

Commissioner of the Labour department Aradhana Patnaik said, "They are not in a normal mental state when they are rescued from prolonged sexual exploitation in cities like Kolkata and Delhi."

Therefore, a two-pronged strategy has been adopted to help the young women come to terms with their demons.

"After rescuing trafficked girls we send them to schools run by the National Child Labour Project or Sarva Siksha Abhiyan where focus is given to rehabilitation," Patnaik said.

"We send them to other schools too. Recently we sent 50 of them to the NCLP," she said.

She said awareness should be built up by panchayat pradhans, while it was no less important for parents to understand the dangers of placing their daughters in the hands of people whose antecedents they were not fully aware of.

"Some of the girls and children are sent to the Nari Niketan and given vocational training to make them self-reliant," she said. Many of the girls and women have shown talent in drawing, painting and poetry.

"The paintings will be sent to the International Labour Organisation," Patnaik said.

Trafficked girls also faced the problem of stigma with some parents not willing to take them back.

"Despite sincere efforts to convince families to accept their daughters back some have refused to so. But we have not given up. We hope ultimately to to convince them to take them back," he said.