12-year-old Jassi Trafficked from Bangladesh

Jassi was trafficked on October 15th, 2024 from Bangladesh to India by a woman named Suma. Suma had been trying to coax 11-year-old Jassi into travelling with her to India for many weeks. Jassi always said “No.” But in early October, 2024, Jassi had a bad fight with her family. This time, when Suma asked Jassi if she would accompany her to India, Jassi said “Yes.” 

Suma, her five-year-old daughter, and Jassi made the long journey from Dhaka to India. For some of the journey, they walked by foot through jungles and rivers. They finally reached Kolkata, India, and they caught a train to Hyderabad. When they arrived in Hyderabad, Suma’s husband, Jatish, was waiting. 

Jassi did not understand the danger she was in. She stayed with Suma and Jatish for a few days before they began to sell her out to customers and physically abuse her. Jassi was beaten, starved, and threatened, and she was sexually exploited by customers that Suma and Jatish arranged. When Jassi was not being sexually exploited, Suma and Jatish forced her to do housework.

Suma gave Jassi a basic mobile phone so that Suma could contact her regarding customers. After a few weeks of keeping her in Hyderabad, Suma took Jassi to Chennai, where she sold Jassi out to additional customers for over a month. Suma then took Jassi to a location in Kerala where she sold her out for two weeks before she brought her back to Hyderabad. Over this period of time, Jassis was assaulted by 400 men.

On June 4th, 2025, our Freedom Firm team received intel about Jassi from a partner NGO in Bangladesh. After collecting sufficient information about Jassi, our team attempted to meet the Cyberabad Commissioner of Police. He was unavailable, so our team met a member of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, AHTU and discussed rescue strategies.

On August 11th, at 9:55 p.m. our team rescued now 12-year-old Jassi from an apartment in Hyderabad. The day she was rescued, she had already been assaulted by 5 men. The police arrested Suma and Jatish. After the police collected incriminating evidence from the apartment, the police and our team proceeded to the police station with Jassi and the accused. 

At the police station, the police refused to file a First Information Report. They said that because no senior officer was present, they could not make any decisions regarding Jassi. The AHTU refused to be a part of any of the post-rescue operations, left shortly after arriving at the police station, and failed to inform the Child Welfare Committee, CWC about Jassi. If the CWC had known, they most likely would have ordered for Jassi to attend medical tests and to be placed in a protective home.

In spite of our team reminding them that the law mandated that no child or minor should be in police custody overnight, the police still kept Jassi overnight with a lady police officer at the police station. Due to this gross negligence, the police kept badgering the Freedom Firm team to change details of the case including the rescue date and the time of rescue in order to protect themselves. They asserted that they would not file a First Information Report, FIR, unless Freedom Firm agreed to change these details. When the team refused, the police threatened, and illegally detained the team.

For more than 24 hours after the location was raided, the police refused to file an FIR. When they finally did file an FIR, they entered incorrect information, including the wrong date and time of rescue. They refused to attach Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, POCSO, to the FIR. 

In June, 2025, when our partner NGO sent us intel about Jassi, they included Jassi ’s birth certificate, Suma and Jatish’s identification documents, and Jassi ’s parents identification documents. This evidence was sufficient to show that Jassi was a child, yet the police refused to act on this information. 

When Jassi was produced in court a few days later, the police did not give the court any of Jassi ’s documents which stated that she is a minor. Because of this, the CWC did not issue a statement, and Jassi was treated as a major and ordered to stay in a home for majors instead of in a protective home for minor victims. 

We are appalled by the way 12-year-old Jassi was treated. Our legal team did not back down, and continued to advocate for her. Our legal team filed a WRIT petition, which is a legal document seeking judicial intervention to address grievances or enforce rights in the Telangana High Court. Our legal advocate also filed a Suo Moto. He said, “The rationale behind the Suo Moto actions of the High Courts and The Supreme Court is the desire to deliver justice to everyone, even to the people who might not be able to afford it.” We are relieved to say that after our advocate filed the Suo Moto, the Supreme Court intervened, and Jassi was rightly placed in a protective home where she remains safe. 

Our team is now working to safely repatriate Jassi to Bangladesh, and to hold the police accountable for deliberately concealing material facts, including Jassi’s age, her time of rescue, and their failure to include POCSO and other relevant laws in the FIR which would strengthen Jassi’s case. We hope to see legal action taken against the errant officer who refused to file the FIR accurately: this case needs to be investigated by a senior police officer, and our team will not back down; we will continue to fight for justice for Jassi.