A tale of horror

Harrowing details are coming out through an investigative report by this daily about how Bangladeshi women and girls end up entrapped into involuntary sex work after being trafficked to India. Budhwar Peth, located in Pune, is the third largest red-light district in India—an 18th century establishment that is home to around 110 brothels. It is also the workplace of 800-900 commercial sex workers, 200-250 of whom are from Bangladesh, our investigation has found.

According to the report, many girls and young women, duped by false promises of a better life and livelihood options than what's available at home, are trafficked across the border and then supplied to the brothels in India. Those who try to fight back are starved and tortured into submission. Many such victims, having spent a considerable amount of time as sex workers there, become brothel managers themselves and employ other Bangladeshi women. Some others become traffickers, luring young women out of Bangladesh and into the clutches of these brothels, according to our report. Thus, this utterly vicious cycle continues.

It is curious how easy it is to smuggle Bangladeshi women and girls through one of the most dangerous international borders in the world. There are pockets on the border that provide easy passage, and as our report reveals, local law enforcers on both sides are involved in this supply chain, smoothening the process for the traffickers. The Maheshpur border area in Jhenaidah, for example, is notoriously vulnerable. According to the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), between January 1 and May 15 this year, 75 people, including 22 women and three traffickers, were apprehended while crossing over to India. Last year, BGB detained 1,186 people trying to cross over, as well as 53 traffickers. But these are only a fraction of the numbers of people who simply walk in and out of the country through this border area, undetected.

That Bangladesh is a source country for sex workers to Indian red-light districts is no news. But what is disconcerting is how easy it is, in this day and age, to traffic our women into India and force them into sex work. This report is the first part of a series that will surely reveal more distressing details about our women suffering in Indian brothels. We hope the firsthand accounts unveiled by this investigation will stir the authorities here into action. We urge them to promptly take steps to bring our women back home as soon as possible, with full dignity and rehabilitation ensured.