Born in extreme poverty in Madhubani, Bihar, Amar was like any other child his age: he loved to play all day long. His parents were disappointed with his poor academic performance, which made them even more vulnerable to the guile and cunningness of agents who ran human-trafficking networks in and around Madhubani. Unaware that it is a crime to make underage children work, they were brainwashed into sending Amar to Delhi in the hope that he would be able to earn a decent amount of money.

Overjoyed by the prospects of exploring a completely new city, Amar was ready to leave home, not knowing that he may never get to see his near and dear ones again. The family was also promised that they would regularly receive a part of Amar’s earnings. He reached Delhi after a long train journey and soon was put to work in a factory. He would be made to work long hours – as long as 14 hours a day – take his frugal meals in the same room that he and some others his age would make bindis, he couldn’t step out to play and wouldn’t be paid wages in time. This routine followed for over a year.

When BBA activists found out that the factory in question had employed child labour, a plan was chalked out to rescue them. A raid on the factory premises led to the rescue of 14 boys, including Amar. The children, many of whom were also from Bihar, were sent to Mukti Ashram, on the periphery of Delhi.

The sojourn at Mukti Ashram helped Amar start life afresh on a happier note. He received several counseling sessions, was served nutritious food, took to education and sports. After BBA was able to trace Amar’s origins, he was reunited with his parents amid tears and warm embraces.

A few weeks after her arrival in Delhi, Kajolata met a woman named Baby who convinced her to stay and work in the city. Baby lured her by weaving dreams of getting many opportunities to make big money. Her village was no good, Rama would tell Kajolata. This was how Kajolata was entrapped before deciding to work in Delhi.

Kajolata was soon introduced to a man named Bhanu Pratap who ran a placement agency camouflaged as an NGO. But Kajolata’s dreams were quickly shattered when she realised that Rama had misled her by forcing her into bonded labour.

Rama knew that Bhanu Pratap lived in a basement apartment in Shivlok area of New Delhi. She wanted Kajolata to be rescued as soon as possible. She also informed some BBA activists that Kajolata’s mother had passed away and that her father had remarried and was least concerned about his daughter’s whereabouts. Since Kajolata was Rama’s sole responsibility, she wanted her daughter traced so she could take her back to the village.

Following standard operating procedures, BBA advised Rama to lodge a missing person complaint with the police. An FIR was subsequently filed. Through its efforts, BBA was able to track down Baby who revealed the name of the mastermind of the racket that Kajolata was a victim of: Bhanu Pratap. Already serving a jail sentence for committing heinous crimes such as rape, Bhanu Pratap ran a full-fledged placement agency which was involved in the trafficking of girls from remote areas to big cities such as Delhi.

When questioned by BBA activists, Bhanu Pratap revealed Kajolata’s whereabouts. And when she was traced and released, Kajolata could hardly believe that she was free. She said she would be made to work from early morning till late in the night. She would be locked away in a room where vicious guards kept an eye on her. When all formalities related to her rescue and release were completed, Kajolata was reunited with Rama and was eager to start life. BBA also assisted her to receive Rs 44,000 as back-wages from her abusive employers. BBA’s follow-up team would regularly keep in contact with Kajolata to ensure that her life stayed on track.

Abducted from her village before she was trafficked to Delhi, Malvati was “acquired” by Naina Placement Agency where she was forced to work at several places as a domestic help. Some of her employers would beat her mercilessly. On other occasions she would be raped and molested by the men at the homes where she worked.

When guests visited her employers’ homes, she would be tortured mentally and physically. Her most horrifying experience was when she would menstruate and would have no sanitary napkins to use. Basic requirements like nutrition and mental health became luxuries that she could only dream of. Malvati’s nightmarish experience continued for two years.

Sometime in 2013, BBA activists received information about Malvati through an email tipoff, which claimed that the girl worked as a domestic help at Mrs Renu Chadha’s residence in Delhi. Without losing any time, BBA activists planned and executed a raid at Mrs Chadha’s house and rescued Malvati. An FIR was immediately lodged against her employers and those who operated the placement agency.

Malvati’s medical examination indicated that she was subjected to rape and sexual harassment. The original FIR was accordingly amended so that the girl, who had already lost so much, received justice. Understandably, Malvati was very fearful the day she was rescued. She was taken to Arushi Shelter Home, Gurgaon, on the orders of the local child welfare committee.

She stayed there for two months following which she was rehabilitated. Malvati was re-united with her father, Mr. Nandulal Hansda. The tears that flowed from the father and daughter’s eyes were testimony to mutual grief and a stark reminder of Malvati underwent during the two years she was trafficked from her native village and then horrors she suffered in Delhi.