Woman trafficked to India returns to mother after seven years

 

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A 19-year-old girl who was trafficked to India from Bangladesh's Jhalokati district has been returned to her mother's custody after seven years. After the legal process in India, the police produced her in the court of the Special Tribunal for the Suppression of Violence against Women and Children in Jhalokati on 16 May 2022 morning. Later, the court judge MA Hamid handed over the girl to her mother's custody.

According to court and prosecution sources, on the morning of June 5, 2015, the young woman was abducted from Jhalakathi by a human trafficking gang after telling her to help her get a job as a domestic worker at a house in Khulna district. She was then only 12 years old. She was later sold to a brothel in Bengaluru, India.

In the same year, justice and care, an Indian non-governmental organization with the help of the Indian police, rescued the girl and kept her in a shelter home in Bengaluru. A case was registered by the Indian police at Hudco police station in the Krishnagiri district of Bengaluru, India. After the completion of the trial in India, the NGO justice and care handed her over to a Bangladeshi counterpart organization at the Bangladesh Benapole land port of Jessore district on March 5, 2022.

Plaintiff's lawyer Bonny Amin said the victim’s mother had lodged a written complaint with the Jhalakathi Human Trafficking Tribunal on November 30, 2015 in connection with the abduction. The then judge of the court Shafiqul Karim directed the Jhalokati police station to accept the complaint as a case. Later on October 2, 2016, the investigating officer of the case submitted the charge sheet to the court.