Tashi is Rescued then Wrongly Imprisoned

Tashi and her 18-month-old daughter after their rescue

In 2022, 17-year-old Tashi’s friend introduced her to 24-year-old Kishor, a man on Facebook who also lived in Bangladesh. They started chatting online, and formed a secret romantic relationship. Tashi was soon in love with Kishor.

Tashi was in grade 11, and she met Kishor in-person for the first time outside her school. A few weeks later, Kishor waited for Tashi outside the school to surprise her. He asked her to accompany him to Dhaka. Excited, and completely besotted, she agreed, and without telling anyone in her family, Tashi left with Kishor.  

Once Kishor and Tashi boarded a train, Kishor took away her phone and broke the SIM card. He then drugged Tashi who remained in a state of semi-consciousness during the eight hour journey. She was still groggy when she arrived at Kishor’s house. Tashi met Kishor’s family, and his mother sent Tashi to a room where Kishor raped her. Kishor’s family planned to traffick Tashi to India and held her captive in their house. She heard the word “border” a few times but she did not pay any heed. At the time, Tashi was unaware that Kishor was from another faith. 

Tashi was threatened and forced to make a long and tiring journey through rice fields by foot in order to cross the border into India. Terrified and helpless, Tashi quietly obeyed, and followed Kishor and a few of his relatives into India.

Back home, Tashi’s parents were worried. Tashi went missing in August 2022, and for months, Tashi’s parents searched helplessly for Tashi. In April 2023, eight months into her captivity, Tashi called her mother and shared her heartbreaking story. She told her that Kishor and his family abused her. Tashi’s mother immediately went to the police station in Bangladesh and filed a case under the Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act 2012. Kishor and four of his family members' names were written in the complaint.  But no one was able to trace Tashi.

Back in India, Kishor and his family took Tashi to their relative’s house in Siliguri, West Bengal. Kishor forced Tashi to marry him before a few witnesses. Although she was still a minor, this type of marriage was customary of his faith. Tashi was forced to smile in the fabricated videos that were taken to show that she willingly married Kishor. Once they were married, Kishor claimed his husbandly privileges and continued to rape her. He also began to physically abuse her. Kishor’s relatives looked on and did nothing. Kishor’s mother convinced Kishor that he should have a child to ensure that Tashi never leaves or turns against him. Tashi became pregnant, and had a miscarriage. She was not given any medical treatment and started hemorrhaging for days. A few months later, she became pregnant again. This time she gave birth to a daughter. The physical abuse continued. Kishor would beat her for no apparent reason. 

After two years had passed, Kishor lowered his guard. He seemed to believe that his wife would not leave him since they now had a daughter.

In March 2025, we received intel about Tashi from a partner NGO in Bangladesh. It took us 17 days to trace her location in Siliguri.

On April 8, we were able to verify Tashi’s location, and after confirming her location on April 9, we met with the Commissioner of Police, Siliguri Metropolitan Police to initiate her rescue. We planned for the rescue to take place in the early hours of the morning in order to ensure that Kishor was also arrested.

Outside the house where Tashi was held captive

On Thursday, April 10, at 5:58 am, the police and our team rescued Tashi and her 18-month-old daughter.

We accompanied Tashi to the police station in Siliguri to record her statement. Tashi shared the horrors that she experienced over the last three years. The police listened in silence, then filed a First Information Report under the Foreigners Act. The Magistrate concluded from the police report that Tashi was guilty of trespassing illegally into India, and booked Tashi in jail under the Foreigners Act. (A trafficked person without valid documents is treated as if they entered willingly and illegally, even if they were coerced or abducted. Although the police can choose to file under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (ITPA), when they do not do this, it leads to innocent trafficking victims like Tashi being wrongly imprisoned.)

Our social workers with Tashi after her rescue

Tashi was in police custody for 14 days when our team in Kolkata, in an uproar over this injustice, called the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Criminal Investigation Department. He directed us to speak with the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Siliguri, who said that since Tashi was from Bangladesh and entered India illegally, the police had arrived at their own conclusions. He said Tashi could have run away at any time over the past three years; she was guilty and had to remain in jail. 

This young mother who believed that she and her daughter were finally free after almost three years is once again being held captive.

Our legal team is making every effort to free Tashi and her daughter from police custody so she can stay in a shelter home until she is repatriated and returns safely to her family in Bangladesh. We are also working to ensure that her accused, Kishor and his family members, are held accountable for their crimes against Tashi.

Tashi and her daughter after their rescue