Meet Deepika and Payal – Operation Red Alert | A united voice to end large scale sex-trafficking in India by 2025.

Meet deepika and
payal

Deepika* and Payal* are 17 years old, and best of friends, rescued at the Mumbai railway station and set back home!

Deepika* and Payal* are 17 years old, and best of friends. They are from a village in the South 24 Paragnas District of West Bengal. Both girls dropped out of school early, wanting to work to help their parents support the family. Their parents are poor, daily wage laborers who work collecting cow dung for fire fuel. Supporting the girls was difficult for them.

One day, a man named Satish came to their family and offered to to take the girls for a good job in Mumbai. He promised that they would earn enough money to help support their family remaining in the village. The girls’ parents decided to let them go. On 23/Nov/2016 evening, Satish picked up the girls at the train station, and they set out for Mumbai.

The next day, the Operation Red Alert Safe Village Program was conducted through Implementing Partner HASUS. Deepika and Payal’s parents attended part of the program and learned about typical methods of traffickers. Immediately after the program they went to their Village Panchayat (leader) and told him about letting their daughters go to Mumbai with a man promising them work. The Panchayat member took them to report the case in the police station, and told them to call the Red Alert Helpline as well.

The Red Alert team then activated our network partner** in Mumbai to find the girls in the city. Deepika and Payal were rescued at the Mumbai train station before any abuse could take place. Satish was arrested, but not detained.

Deepika and Payal are now safely back home with their families, who are so grateful they were able to prevent anything happening to their daughters. Satish is currently not facing any charges since the family willingly let their girls go, and no exploitation took place. No one from the village is willing to provide evidence against Satish because he is considered a powerful man in the community.

The HASUS team is in constant contact with the families, ensuring that the girls stay safe. HASUS is working to get the two girls into a vocational training course so they can learn skills that will earn them a decent livelihood.

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