One month ago we received information that a young teenager, Anju, was forced into prostitution in Ganga Jamuna (a red light area in the city of Nagpur). The Freedom Firm team searched for her for a month before they finally spotted her on March 12th. Our staff coordinated with the Nagpur police to initiate a rescue operation and rescued her the same day!
At the police station, we heard parts of her story. Anju was kidnapped from her home in Madhya Pradesh eight years ago when she was just 7 years old*. She was trafficked to Mumbai, where her traffickers locked her in a hotel for a year. They moved her frequently after that, until they eventually sent her to a brothel in Nagpur.
The traffickers injected her with steroids that made her look older and also altered her behavior.
After Anju's rescue, the police alerted authorities in Madhya Pradesh and learned that her family was looking for her. Her parents were immediately informed that Anju had been found, and they arrived later that day to be with Anju. Her mother, aunt, and younger sister were overcome with emotion when they recognized Anju in the police station.
Together they wept, rejoiced, and shared sorrowful stories of the past few years. We learned that 8 years ago, the same day Anju was kidnapped, her little sister was kidnapped and trafficked to Rajasthan. She too was rescued recently and returned home.
You can find an update on Anju here.
Read about Anju's day in court here.
*Initial reports at the time of Anju's rescue put her age at 7-8 years at the time of her kidnapping. After further investigation it has been determined that she was 8 years old at the time of her kidnapping.