A NEW LEASE ON LIFE

She had just got back from work. She worked with a women's organisation. They provide opportunities for self employment and employ women. Women and children who have been rescued from brothels and bonded labour.

It was around 4.00 pm. She heard voices. She lookef out her window that overlooked the slum in their area.

"I will come back at 11.00 tonight. I will give you an advance and the rest after the hand over." a voice said.

She ran out and hid behind the compound wall to get a closer look. He was leaving. As he turned she saw a tattoo on his neck.

She had seen thst tattoo before! If only she could remember where.

As she racked her brains trying to figure it out, she saw the innocent 12 year old playing outside with her brother.

There was something amiss. She felt that familiar throbbing in her forehead as she lay on her bed. Thinking.  she closed her eyes. A few minutes passed.

Her eyes flew open as beads of perspiration formed on her forehead. Ofcourse!! How could she forget!!

She was 15. Sold by her parents who were tea pickers in assam. A shiver ran down her spine as she thought of how he had raped her several times as she begged for mercy. After 3 years of sexual slavery and violence, she was rescued by the organisation she currently worked for.

After months of counselling and help she had only now settled in her new found life.

She did not think twice. She picked up the phone and called.

The next morning she woke up and looked out the window. She smiled as she saw the girl playing with her brother. She would never let what happened to her,  happen to anyone else.

He was behind bars.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.
This time your entry must contain, ‘He/She had seen that tattoo before! If only he/she could remember where.’

Human trafficking is the trade in humans, most commonly for the purpose of sexual slavery, forced labor or for the extraction of organs
or tissues,[1][2] including surrogacy and ova removal.
In India BBC reports that police records from 2011 show kidnappings and abductions of women were up 19.4 per cent, so too women being killed in disputes over dowry payments by 2.7 per cent, torture by 5.4 per cent, molestation by 5.8 per cent and trafficking by 122 per cent over the last one year.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/keyword/human-trafficking

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking

http://crs-blog.org/human-trafficking-in-india-one-womans-story/

http://www.prajwalaindia.com/home.html

http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/global-initiatives/india/