Pragya Shinde

"It was 2009. I remember there was a Puja function at my school on that day. I was happy. I have known him since childhood, as his uncle lived in our village. I and my friend happily sat in his car when he offered to drop us at our place. Little did I know this incident was going to change my life. When I regained consciousness, we found ourselves at an unfamiliar place. I had no idea where I was."

The 13-year-old Naseema Gain had no idea that she had landed in the net of human traffickers.

Today, leaving her past behind, Naseema Gain, 28, has rescued more than 4,000 women from the flesh trade and is helping them lead a normal life.

Human trafficking is the illegal process of moving or luring a person from one place to another using deception, threats, pressure, duress, or other abusive means for financial gain. Most of them trafficking children are pushed into the sex trade in big and small cities.

Born in Maslandpur, West Bengal, Naseema Gain had a happy childhood till an acquaintance kidnapped her on the pretext of offering her a ride to school.

Fortunately, she was released after 10 months. However, she faced a bigger tragedy on her return home when she found people looked at her and treated her differently. Due to prejudices, people didn’t treat her as a victim.

Naseema did not give up. Today she is helping hundreds of girls who are victims of human trafficking by rescuing and rehabilitating them.

Rescued women who are being helped by Naseem Gain

life Her initiatives like Utthan Collective and ILFAT (Indian Leadership Forum Against Trafficking) have helped more than 4000 girls to restart their lives.

Narrating the incident of her kidnapping, Naseema says, "He asked me and one of my friends if we would like to go home in his car. There was also another person in the car. Not knowing his intentions, we happily sat in the car. He took us to a deserted place and dropped us saying that he would return after some time.

“After a while, a person came in another car and said that he would drop us home. It was dark, so we accepted his offer least knowing that this lift would turn was going to change our lives.”

They sold Naseema and her friend in Bihar. On her life in a brothel, Naseema says, "They taught us to dance and sing. If anyone did not obey them, they were beaten, tortured, and made to starve. We had lost all hope of returning home."

She says violence, torture, and starvation were routine punishments for the inmates of a brothel. One day Naseema and her friend were sold as maids. This gave them a chance to escape.

Naseema worked as a house help for a professor. "Slowly I started following their language. One day I told him about my story of being kidnapped and sold and asked him to help me return to my home. I somehow managed to gather the courage to tell this to him."

She also told the professor that if he didn't help them and sent them back to the agency the girls would face torture and be resold.

The professor asked her to provide him contact number of her home. Naseema didn’t remember hers' but her friend had memorized her telephone number. The kind-hearted professor called the number and both the girls were rescued with the help of the Police.

However, before the police and the parents could reach Naseema and the other girl, the trafficker came to know about this. He called the Professor who shifted them to different secret locations for safety.

After tracking them for several weeks, Naseema and her friend were finally freed after 10 months.

Women at Naseema's NGO

Naseema says, "It still feels surreal to be rescued and taken home. I had lost all hope, but our and the police's efforts would be successful. I am very grateful to those professors."

Her family was happy at her rescue and return home but the villagers were not ready to accept her.

Naseema says, "This is the sad truth of our society. I was a victim of circumstances, and yet had to face ostracism." She adds, "Parents would tell their children not to speak with us.”

She said, "We were not allowed to go to school because the school refused to admit us.”

“Ten months of torture and then this kind of treatment from society alienated me. I did not leave my house for the next five years." Naseema says, "Even after coming out of the quagmire of human trafficking, I was saddened by the ostracism by society."

Naseema's parents contacted an NGO which was into counseling of human trafficking survivours.

Naseema says that counseling gave her a lot of strength. She was  convinced that she could only counsel those who had survived this inhuman quagmire.

She contacted girls and women who had been rescued from human traffickers and brothels and helped them.

Naseema says, “I have tried to build a life with whatever I have. Call it courage, hope, or luck. That is why I dare to help others. To help more girls like me, I started working with 'Utthan Collective' in 2016, an organization that provides training, counseling, and support to girls and victims.

She says victims like her are treated like criminals even after their rescue. Naseema wants to create a new identity for all such victims.

In 2019, Naseema co-founded the Indian Leadership Forum Against Trafficking with similar anti-trafficking groups across the country. The organization's work spans across nine states and has given a new direction to the lives of more than 4500 victims.

Naseema's NGO

Founded by Naseema, the organization trains victims in various skill-based jobs and helps them earn a livelihood. “We reach out to victims and provide them with mental health support and counseling. Through outreach programmes, their trauma and grief connect. So they don’t feel any loss there. This helps them move forward,” Naseema says.

She adds, "A person who has gone through such a situation needs a lot of care, love, and respect. In the process of trafficking, they have lost all their self-esteem. Often, society rejects them; in many cases, even their families disown them. We provide them with the necessary help and shelter."

About her work, Naseema says, “Many times different NGOs approach me and learn how ILFAT and Utthan work. This is a huge inspiration and victory for me.” She adds, “With the organisation, I want to create a safe environment for the victims, ensure that the culprits get proper punishment and all the surviving girls are rehabilitated.”

Naseema, along with her colleagues, helps improve the mental health of the girls who have been rescued from the quagmire of human trafficking, provides compensation, makes the girls aware of their skills, and nurtures them by giving them necessary training.

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Because of all this work of Naseema, everyone now looks at her with great respect. When 26-year-old Naseema escaped from human trafficking, she said, "The hotter you heat the iron, the stronger it becomes." After facing many challenges, Naseema believes that all those tough times have made her stronger. An ordinary teenage girl has now become a warrior. That one fascination with traveling by car changed her whole life. But now she is determined to eliminate human trafficking from the country.