7 years a slave: Bangladeshi boy set to meet mother

NEW DELHI: In the last seven years, Aman* has worked on farms, in dhabas and tent houses across five cities in the country. A victim of child trafficking, his records show him as a resident of Assam but the 16-year-old is originally from Bangladesh, a fact he never disclosed to anyone until he met Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi at a shelter home in Delhi last month.

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Tortured and addicted to drugs during his ordeal, Aman had lost hope of seeing his family again. But thanks to the efforts of Satyarthi’s NGO, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, he is set to return home next week. “This is our Eid gift to him,” says Satyarthi.

The NGO rescued Aman and 14 other children from the Old Delhi railway station in July and since then he has been living at Mukti Ashram in north Delhi’s Burari.

“When I visited the ashram in August, Aman noticed me counselling two boys who were brought back after an escape attempt. I told him I can make arrangements if he wanted to leave the home. He told me that he still won’t be able to see his parents,” says Satyarthi. “He was a drug addict. So I thought he didn’t want to face his parents. But when I talked to him some more, he admitted he was from Bangladesh.”

Satyarthi made a few calls to the Bangladesh High Commission, which helped in tracing Aman’s family. And for the first time in years, the boy spoke to his family. “I had lost hope of meeting my family... I was tortured wherever I went,” says Aman. He is eagerly waiting to meet his mother now.

*Name changed to protect identity