Not everyone gets the opportunity to lead a bump-free life. Sometimes, people take advantage of others’ circumstances, exploiting every chance to pull others down for their own benefit. West Bengal is among the top three states where traffickers attract young girls from poor families, promising them a better life, and force them into sex trade instead. And what do we do? Keep mum.
But instead of playing deaf and mute, two school girls gave a strong answer to every person who thinks that it is okay to keep quiet and let the criminals do heinous crime in the society. Tejasweeta Pradhan (18) and Shivani Gond (17) are two young girls from Darjeeling, West Bengal, who uncovered an international sex racket with their intelligence and courage.
The masterplan
It was a joint operation between the cops and an NGO named Mankind in Action for Rural Growth (MARG), which works to curb trafficking and sexual abuse. Tejasweeta and Shivani were familiar with the sex trafficking market as they were working with MARG. It was May 2016, and the duo decided to do something to bust the cross-border flesh trade ring with the help of cops, MARG, and their families.
The girls created a fake Facebook account and befriended the traffickers. They pretended to be Nepalese girls seeking employment. Within a few days, they successfully established trust amongst the traffickers that they were genuine and ready to leave home once they were asked to do so. They also shared their pictures with the traffickers.
They increased their contacts with the traffickers and befriended a woman who was a conduit for this trafficking ring. The traffickers instructed Tejasweeta and Shivani that they would have to work in a hotel and sexually satisfy their customers in every possible way.
After gaining their trust completely, the girls were instructed to go to New Jalpaiguri area in West Bengal. The cops were already present there in disguise. As soon as the girls signalled the cops about the authenticity of the criminals, they nabbed them right away, and took them to custody. In the process they also found a young Nepali girl who went missing during the days.
Emergence of the heroes
After the cops took down the whole network of traffickers, the girls came under spotlight. For showcasing their stupendous bravery, they were felicitated with Geeta Chopra award on the January 28, 2018. The government has promised them to look after their further education.
We are a population of more than one billion people. All these heinous activities won’t exist in our society if we join hands in vandalising these practices. What these two girls have done is nothing short of spectacular and is truly appreciable.
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