Early in august, the Sardar Police Station in Haryana got massed by a small team of activists, a journalist and a few lawyers. Their mission was to rescue a teenager Assamese girl who had been trafficked, beaten, brutally raped and then imprisoned by a malevolent local family. But the fight they started was not going to be easy.

The story of Sakina

Shamsul, a young 30 year old Assamese boy living in a small village in the Kokrajhar district of Assam, had spent nearly an entire month searching for his young sister Sakina. Born to a disabled father and a mother who passed away after the birth of the youngest sister Sakina, life was a battle itself for Shamsul and his 3 siblings. However, after the 2012 ethnic violence, sakina’s brothers stopped getting work in their Bodo-dominated village.

Their village is amongst the 11 such backward villages that started receiving funds for development from the Backward Region Grant Fund Programme. A very politically disputed area, Kokrajhar has witnessed several small and large rounds of ethnic violence between the Bodos and Muslims. Several political parties claim that most of the Muslims in these villages are Bangladeshis who have infiltrated into India through the borders. During the last ethnic violence that took place in 2012, nearly 4 lakh people from 400 villages were displaced and millions suffered from hunger due to no work and money. Sakina’s family was amongst those suffering from this brutal plight.

Trying to sort the condition of her family, Sakina left her village in search of work, mostly as a live-in maid in big cities. This is where she got in touch with a guy named John (name changed) a middleman who helped girls to placement agencies in search of work. It was April 2013 when Sakina aged just 16, left her home for Delhi.

Just 3 months later, she called her brother Shamsul asking him in a desperate voice to rescue her. She said that John had actually sold her away to a local family in the village Pingod, Palwal district, Haryana as a bride. She was getting beaten up every morning and night and was being molested by 4 men of the family, turn by turn. She cried and asked for help to save her life.

The unknown

Brought up in a society that was far away from sex trafficking and forced marriages, Sakina and her siblings were completely unknown about the harsh reality of the outer world. Due to low women ratio in Haryana and several other parts of the country, not all men get married easily. In Palwal alone, the sex ratio is 866 females against 1000 men. As a result, they choose forced marriages to buy girls who can look after their home and other needs. According to the UNDOC report that covered over 10,000 houses in 92 villages, 9,000 women were brought through sex trafficking or forced marriages from other states like Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, Assam and West Bengal. Teenage girls from poor families like Sakina who leave their homes to find work in big cities get tricked by middlemen like John who later sell them away to families in different villages and states.

Search for Sakina

Now that Sakina went missing, Shamsul made it his mission to find his little sister and bring her back home. He sold away his half beegha land and left for Delhi with just 80,000 to search for Sakina. He stayed near the Old Delhi station and hired several delhi-palal taxis to just look for people who could help him. Slowly, all his money was over and had no clue about where his sister could be in Palwal. He met Sameena, his aunt who now lived in northeast Delhi (an immigrant filled area) and was married to a mason.

Sameena helped Shamsul reach Palwal where he visited the Sardar police Station several times. The first time he went there, he faced the police and their bunch of questions, most of which was extremely harsh. Questions related to Sakina’s character were raised and misleading stories of her running away with her lover were told to Shamsul. However, after a lot of pleading, he was taken by the police to Pingod village and was able to successfully trace Sakina. But, although traced, Sakina was left with the family. She had wounds and cuts all over her body and had lost a great amount of weight since she left her home. Now that Shamsul had known where Sakina was, the family beat her even more.

In the meantime, Sameena got the help of political MLA who helped her get in touch to a local journalist. Soon she got in touch with an NGO named Bachpan Bachao Andolan who work for children rights.

Sardar Police Station

When the team of activists, journalist and lawyers arrived at the Sardar police station, a discussion was going on between the SHO Dev Vart and another inspector about how the reports of women suffering from physical torture and assault had increased in the recent times. Surprisingly, the answers to the question were insane. Refusal to cook food for the family, avoiding work and such similar reasons were being discussed.

As Shamsul entered the police station, the SHO shouted on him in an abusive language and asked him to leave instantly. The activist from Bachpan Bachao Andolan then stepped in and questioned the SHO who said that the Assam police should come and rescue Sakina. The lawyers working with the activists further discussed the sections of Indian law based on which the Pingod police officials should help Sakina, irrespective of the state to which she belongs. But the police was adamant on not helping rescue Sakina. They kept stressing on the fact that she was now 17 years old and married for 2 months. However, the lawyers tried their best to convince the police that as Sakina was a juvenile, she has to be rescued.

Rescuing Sakina

Activists from Bachpan Bachao Andolan, journalist and the Pingod police accompanied Shamsul to Sakina’s house. But, when they entered the house, sakina was not there. She was again missing. The women constables searched every corner of the house for Sakina, but all in vain. Suddenly, while the police was talking with the Village’s Pradhan, a fight between sakina’s mother-in-law and a neighbor began. As the police stepped in to stop the fight, the reason shocked everybody who was looking for Sakina. The neighbor told the police that Sakina cooked food for 12 people of the family and also took care of the cattle. She was beaten up every day and night. She even broke her leg a few days back and that she was forced to sleep with all 4 men of the family, including her husband, father-in-law’s brother and 2 brother-in-laws. Slowly it was disclosed that Sakina was purchased by a middleman for 13,000.

Soon, Shamsul and Sameena disclosed that the family had previously agreed to give back Sakina if they were paid 20,000. However, the family now disagreed to this fact. On further forcing the Pradhan and the family, they agreed to bring Sakina.

Looking pale, weak and with a broken leg, Sakina started crying soon as she saw Sameena and shamsul. She told them that the family was now selling her away to a handicapped man for more money. If she refused to their order, they would kill Shamsul. Soon, the police officials asked the lady constables to guard Sakina and ordered the Pradhan to give her away else every person involved in the abduction, rape and forced marriage would be imprisoned. But, disagreeing to the police’s order, the people of the village started chasing the police and the activists.

Sakina, Shamsul and Sameena ran to the jeep and so did the journalist, activists and police. They left the village soon and headed for the Sardar police Station. The Rescue was still not over. The Pradhan entered the police station with 20 men and asked the police to give them Sakina as she was married. They would release her if she wanted to go. However, the lawyers from Bachpan Bachao Andolan soon stated that she had to be rescued as she is a minor. After a long debate, the police finally freed Sakina. On the 10th of august, just 5 days prior to our Independence Day, Sakina was released. Today, she is back home, in Kokrajhar and is attending school.