Case Studies 1

I live in Basamadi and have never been to school. Now I am 25 years old. I come from a very poor family of three sisters and three brothers. My responsibility was to cut grass for the animals. I often got beatings for bringing home less grass. From childhood I liked smoking cigarettes. I was sent to my aunt’s house which was a turning point in my life from good to bad. I developed friendship with one boy who one day gave me a cigarette to smoke. The cigarette may have had a drug which had a stupefying effect. Before I could realize what had happened, I landed in Mumbai in a brothel. In a well planned manner the boy took me there. I was given alcohol to drink; I slept well in the night. When I woke up in the morning I enquired about the boy who brought me there. People in the brothel told me that the boy had gone to search for a room to rent. Waiting for the boy, I restlessly passed three days and on my repeated enquiries they finally told me that the boy has gone selling me there for Rs.35,000/-. I was 12 years old when this storm came in my life, I cried and cried. I was asked to take bath, new clothes were given to me and ritual make up was done for me. Now I was ready for the business. I stayed in the brothel for 4 years. One day, one boy came to the brothel and he managed to help me escape from the brothel. He managed to engage me in the embroidery work.

One day I went out to buy vegetables in the market where I was identified and picked up by the police. During that time there was a movement initiated by police to rescue people like me from the brothels. I was taken to the Ashram by the police where there were about 250 girls rescued like me. We stayed here for nearly nine months. Thereafter, we were sent back to Nepal by Air and our blood was tested on arrival in Nepal. Thirteen years have passed when I got married. At that time I was HIV positive. Knowing all these facts my husband married me. When I came from India, I had enough money and my husband was kind to me and used to love me. Over a period of time, he stopped loving me. I had bought a piece of land and built a small house. One day my husband came home and in a fit of anger he cut my thumb. My thumb developed gangrene and doctors operated upon it and amputated my thumb. I sold my house for this treatment. My husband fell in love with another girl and has married her. Now I live in a small hut.

The NGO ETSCN helped me and consoled me. I am appreciative for their concern. Thank you.