A 12-year-old Bangladeshi girl, who ran away from her home out of fear of her strict parents after failing in one subject in school, was sneaked into India by an acquaintance and pushed into prostitution.
Before her rescue on July 26 from Naigaon near Vasai in India’s Maharashtra, she said more than 200 men had sexually abused her in three months.
The Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Mira-Bhayander Vasai-Virar (MBVV) police rescued her with assistance from NGOs Exodus Road India Foundation and Harmony Foundation. Ten suspects have been arrested so far,
Abraham Mathai, founder-chairman of Harmony Foundation, said the victim told them that she was first taken to Nadiad in Gujarat and sexually abused by over 200 men in three months.
This girl has not even reached her teenage years, but her childhood has been stolen by such monsters in the flesh trade," he was quoted as saying by the Times of India.
“Behind every such rescue is a child who wasn’t heard—a child failed first by those meant to protect her, and then by a society that only reacts when it’s too late,” he said.
Police said the investigation is ongoing to trace all individuals involved in the network, including those accused of exploitation.
