Trafficked 5 years ago, minor reunited with kin

NEW DELHI: Lodged at a shelter home in east Delhi’s Dilshad Garden for six months, Seema, 17, had lost all hope of meeting her family. She was trafficked to Delhi

NEW DELHI: Lodged at a shelter home in east Delhi’s Dilshad Garden for six months, Seema, 17, had lost all hope of meeting her family. She was trafficked to Delhi in 2010 and worked at a businessman’s house for five long years. She couldn’t even speak to her family.

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In January, she managed to escape. But there was one more hurdle. She hardly remembered any details of her family or her employer.

In order to reunite her with her family, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), an NGO, and the Child Welfare Committee ( CWC) worked together. After six months, they tasted success.

The girl’s elder sister came last week to Delhi to take her back home.

Seema’s sufferings started in 2008 when she was first trafficked in 2008. She was just 9 years old. In 2010, she managed to escape, but was brought back again to Delhi within a few months.

“Our aim was to reunite her with her family as she had lost faith in the system,” said Sunil Deodhar, founder of My Home India, an NGO.

Shakti Singh, coordinator of My Home India, said, “She escaped from the residential apartment in January and a woman brought her to the CWC, Dilshad Garden. The CWC members asked our NGO to trace her parents and employer.

“She only told us that she is from a small village in Chhattisgarh. The NCPCR member contacted officials in Chhattisgarh. Seema’s family was traced through the local SDM in six months.”

The CWC member then asked the NGO to conduct a spot visit with the girl to trace her employer. She had not been paid a single rupee in those five years. The NGO members, after getting some details from the girl, traced her employer. He lives in an apartment in Patparganj in east Delhi.

“The employers admitted they had employed the girl and paid the placement agency owner instead of her. The Child Welfare Committee ordered the employers to pay Rs 5.5 lakh compensation to the girl,” Singh said.

The employer has been asked to pay the money by July 11, failing which legal action will be initiated against him.

“The compensation will help her in her rehabilitation,” said Deodhar.

Anand Vihar police, who have assisted the non-governmental organisation in the operation, have been asked to trace the placement agency owner who was taking money from the employer. In Ranchi, the local police have been told to trace the trafficker.