A day after Hindustan Times highlighted the agony of a champion athlete caught in a prostitution ring in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, help offers poured in for Nisha Shetti.
A national-level volleyball player and high jump champ, Shetti, 26, was forced into the flesh trade by poverty, unemployment and her husband’s death. Arrested on Saturday, she was released on Tuesday after the Chhattisgarh Volleyball Association furnished the bail amount.
On Tuesday, HT reported how a Raipur court had granted Shetti bail on a surety of Rs 10,000, but since she did not have the money, she had to remain in jail.
After the report, HT readers from India and abroad wrote in with offers to help rehabilitate the former athlete.
Ankur Agrawal, a London-based business consultant, said sports bodies needed to set up a fund to help people like Shetti regain their champion mindsets.
A US-based software professional offered to pay the Rs 10,000 needed for bail.
Speaking to HT, Shetti said entering the flesh trade was the biggest mistake of her life. “All I want now is a good education for my daughter,” she said.