Bangladeshi Mother with 12-day-old Baby Rescued in Pune

Ridhi (circled) and the two accused inside the doorway

On August 12, 2025, we received intel that 22-year-old Ridhi from Bangladesh had been trafficked to India in 2024. We learned from our source that the trafficker was in Ahmednagar, approximately 75 miles from Pune. 

When she was only 15 years old, Ridhi’s parents gave her in child marriage to a man from their community. In January 2024, seven years later, Ridhi entered into an affair with a man from a neighboring district in Bangladesh. Twice, she ran away from home, and her family brought her back each time. When she ran away a third time, the family was unable to find her. A few days into their search, some neighbors told the family that Ridhi had fled to India with a boyfriend named Billu.

In February 2025, Ridhi made a distress call to a neighbor in Bangladesh. Billu had trafficked Ridhi to India and sold her to a pimp. Ridhi shared that she was being sexually exploited by Billu, who forced her to serve 10-12 customers a day in a building in Bangalore. She also disclosed that Billu physically and verbally abused her. She was able to speak to her mother through a neighbor a few times and pleaded with her for help. Her last communication with her mother was in March 2025.

Ridhi’s mother filed a complaint against Billu at the police station in Bangladesh under the Anti-Human Trafficking Act, and the police filed a First Information Report (FIR). The Anti-Human Trafficking Unit began investigating the case.

Our team pursued various leads in an attempt to track Ridhi’s exact location. 

On August 19, we received intel that Ridhi was about 11 miles from the border of Pune district. We pursued different leads to track Ridhi’s exact location.

Late at night on August 20, we received intel that Ridhi had been moved to an interior rural part of the Pune district. Our source confirmed Ridhi’s location.

On August 21, at approximately 10:45 a.m., we had Ridhi’s exact location. With this new information, we immediately proceeded to meet the Superintendent of Police, SP, Pune Rural. After reviewing our evidence, he agreed to help us. Despite limitations of jurisdiction, the SP recognized the urgency of the matter and quickly instructed his staff to coordinate with the police station within the jurisdiction of Ridhi’s location.

A few hours later, we met the inspector at the police station and handed him our documents, which included the FIR that was filed in Bangladesh. The inspector connected us to a female Police Sub Inspector (PSI), who mobilized a team for the rescue operation. 

On August 21, at 1:50 p.m., the police and our team arrived at Ridhi’s location—a house where Billu’s cousins, a husband and wife, lived. Ridhi’s mother had also named the couple as the accused in the FIR filed in Bangladesh. 

When the police questioned Ridhi, she was afraid, so she said she was from West Bengal and shared a fake name with the police and us. We showed her photos of her family and reassured her that she was safe. Finally, she admitted that she was indeed Ridhi from Bangladesh, and she had been trafficked by Billu to India last year. Billu had sold her to an agent in Bangalore, and she was forced to serve customers. After a few weeks, Ridhi had discovered that she was pregnant. When she told Billu, they started fighting, and Billu refused to accept that the child was his. Billu brought her to Pune, and they lived in his cousin’s house. In early August, before Ridhi delivered her baby, Billu ran away. We learned later that he returned to Bangladesh, where he was arrested by the Bangladesh Police. 

Ridhi after her rescue with her 12-day-old son

Ridhi and her 12-day-old son, along with the two accused, were brought to the police station. At the police station, the PSI refused to file an FIR. She said that no acts of sexual exploitation or trafficking could be proved within her jurisdiction, Billu was already under arrest and on trial in Bangladesh, and Ridhi’s statement did not explicitly accuse Billu’s relatives of criminal exploitation.

Although the PSI would not file an FIR, she insisted that she would take measures to ensure that Ridhi and her infant son were safe. She ordered them to be placed in a shelter home for protection, care, and rehabilitation. 

We accompanied Ridhi to her medical tests, and the reports revealed that Ridhi was experiencing serious postoperative conditions, and her son had a concerning low birth weight. Ridhi and her son needed urgent medical follow-up and psychosocial support.

The Assistant Commissioner of Police reviewed the accused documents and shared that after their documents were verified and they were confirmed as Bangladeshi nationals, they would be deported to Bangladesh, where they would stand trial. The police refused to file an FIR against them, stating that there is an FIR filed in Bangladesh. We are urging them to file an FIR because Billu’s cousins held a pregnant Bangladeshi victim in their custody for many weeks. 

We are hopeful that Ridhi will be open to receiving counseling so she can slowly heal from the trauma. Ridhi has endured endless horrific crimes and exploitation for eight years, and she is only a few weeks postpartum; once Ridhi attains some emotional and physical stability, her legal proceedings will begin. She will have the opportunity to share her statement, and we hope that the police will register an FIR.