12 year old trafficked from Bangladesh - police negligent in post rescue procedure

Jassi was trafficked on October 15th, 2024 from Bangladesh to India by a woman named Suma. Suma had been trying to coax Jassi to travel to India for many weeks. Jassi always said no. In early October 2024, Jassi had a bad fight with her family. This time when Suma asked if Jassi would accompany her to India, Jassi said yes.

Suma, her five year old daughter and 11 year old Jassi made the long journey from Dhaka to India - sometimes on foot through jungles and rivers. They finally reached Kolkata after which they caught a train and went to Hyderabad. At Hyderabad, Suma’s  husband Jatish was waiting. 

Up until this point Jassi did not understand the danger she was in. After a few days of living with Suma and Jatish, Jassi was forced to get customers. This is when the sexual exploitation and physical abuse started. Jassi was beaten, starved and threatened. Jassi was sexually exploited by customers that Suma and Jatish arranged. When Jassi was not being sexually exploited, they forced her to do housework.

In Hyderabad, Jassi was given a basic mobile phone so that Suma could contact her regarding customers. After a few weeks, Suma took Jassi to Chennai and for over a month, Jassi was sexually exploited there. After that Suma took Jassi to a location in Kerala. She was exploited there as well for two weeks and then brought back to Hyderabad. Over this period of time she was assaulted by 400 men.

On 4th June 2025, we received intel about Jassi from our partner NGO in Bangladesh. After we collected sufficient information about Jassi, we went to meet the Commissioner of Police Cyberabad. Since he was unavailable, we met a member of the Anti Human Trafficking Unit and discussed rescue strategies.

On 11th August at 9:55 pm Jassi was rescued from an apartment in Hyderabad. On the day she was rescued, she had been sexually exploited by 5 men. Suma and Jatish were arrested. After the police collected incriminating evidence from the apartment, Jassi, the accused and our team proceeded to the police station. 

At the police station the police refused to file a First Information Report. They said since there was no senior officer present they couldn’t take any decision regarding Jassi. The AHTU refused to be part of any of the post rescue operations and left shortly after that, failing to inform the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) about Jassi. Had the CWC known, they would have ordered Jassi to go for a medical check up and be placed in a protective.

When we explained 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 - the rescue date, the time of rescue - only if details were changed would they file a First Information Report (FIR). When we refused, the police issued threats to us and illegally detained us.

For more than 24 hours from the time that the location was hit the police refused to file the FIR.  When they finally filed the FIR, they entered incorrect information - the wrong date and time of the rescue. They refused to attach Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) to the FIR. 

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

When Jassi was produced in court a few days later, the police did not give the court any of Jassi ’s documents that stated she was a minor and there was no statement issued by the CWC. This resulted in Jassi being treated as a major and being ordered to stay in a home for majors, instead of a protective home for minor victims.

Our legal team is in the process of filing a WRIT petition (a legal document where the petitioner seeks judicial intervention to address their grievances or enforce their rights) in the Telangana High Court. We want Jassi to be produced before the Child Welfare Committee. We want the police to file a First Information Report with the correct details - since the police concealed material facts like the victim’s age, the time of rescue, and they failed to include POCSO and other relevant laws and acts to the FIR. We want Jassi to be placed in a protective home for minors and for her repatriation process to start.  Also crucial, we want legal action taken against the errant officer. The case needs to be investigated by a senior police officer.