OF all the places we expect to see children – schools, playgrounds or parks – we can never imagine that there are millions of children being abused in the red light districts. From infants to teenagers, these children have either been abducted, coerced or sold to traffickers who take advantage of the innocence of an unprotected child. Trafficked children are beaten and tortured into submission after which they are forced to entertain men in brothels. Then, they become victims of rape. This nightmare often lasts for decades until the child becomes an adult or dies of his or her injuries. Trafficking in children for sexual exploitation is a global occurrence and there are millions of trafficked children in India, according to the Kolkata-based organization Mahima India.
The sight of children suffering from sexual abuse and exploitation is what led Mahima India to begin their work more than a decade ago to rescue children from sexual exploitation in red light districts. In response to the massive number of trafficked children exploited in brothels across India, Mahima India developed personalized programs to rehabilitate each child through shelter, counseling, health, education and opportunities to build better futures. The purpose of these rehabilitation initiatives is to help the children recover from their trauma and start the long and arduous process to build stronger and more hopeful futures – a process that the organization stands with each child, every step of the way.
The terror that awaits children in brothels
When the lockdown came into effect in 2020, it was found that the demand for online child pornography increased by 95% in India. This disturbing piece of information made news headlines and revealed an even more disturbing revelation: children are sexualized and the unfortunate ones become victims of exploitation and rape.
To meet this high “demand” for children, traffickers explore every avenue to find children to be exploited in a sexual manner. Traffickers keep a lookout for children separated from their families at railway stations, markets and other public places and lure them away using food as a trap. Other traffickers use social media to form friendships with children and then convince them to leave their homes to more vulnerable locations.
Mahima India explains that traffickers also exploit the chaos that erupts after natural disasters such as cyclones or earthquakes. These criminals wait in the shadows and look for abandoned children or orphans. In areas such as West Bengal where cyclones frequently form in the Bay of Bengal and cause catastrophic flooding that displaces entire communities of people, this is of particular concern. Once spotted, the traffickers lure children away from safety and into the dangerous alleyways of the red light district where their childhoods end and their life of suffering begins.
“Trafficked children are stripped and photos and videos are taken of them without their clothes on. Then the violence begins.”
Mahima India’s intervention
The Kolkata-based organization Mahima India is strategically placed in a part of India that is susceptible to trafficking. Kolkata is a source, transit and destination point for the trafficking of children. In response to the high rate of crime in the area, Mahima India was founded in 2012 to rescue trafficked minors and rehabilitate each child. The organization provides safe shelter, nutritious food, medical attention, counseling, psychological support, childhood activities and enrollment in school to get a solid educational foundation and build strong futures. In offering these rehabilitative services to sexually abused and exploited children, the organization helps them recover from their trauma and work toward building safer and better futures.
Rajasree Del Roy is the Associate Director of Mahima India and she shares that girls no older than 10 years are raped by men throughout the day, and if she tries to resist, she is beaten, starved and burned. The children lose their childhoods at such an early age and are subjected to the harshest form of cruelty that their minds are too young to understand. Once rescued, therefore, the children require patient and professional care to help them overcome the crimes that have happened to them and find the hope to rebuild their lives from scratch. The organization also provides legal support to the children and assistance while they are preparing their statements and giving their testimonies in court. This can be a daunting experience for a child and Mahima India stands by the child’s side throughout the entire legal process.
In this short campaign video, Rajasree Del Roy explains the disturbing crime of child sex trafficking and how the organization steps in to meet the needs of abused and exploited children:
Mahima India has a tailor-made and individualized care plan for each child depending on her experience and personal needs. But all the services to the children include these areas of intervention:
- basic needs (safe shelter, nutritious food and medical care)
- mental health support (counseling and psychological therapy)
- education (school enrollment and academic help)
- skills training (vocational skills training and internships)
- therapies (music, dance, piano and ukulele)
- legal support (assistance to testify in court)
Through these initiatives, the anti-trafficking organization aims to not just rehabilitate but also reintegrate the children back into mainstream society. By helping the children recover from their trauma, the NGO then prepares them to access education and employment, the tools to rebuild their lives and creates the futures of their dreams.
Support Mahima India
Over the past twelve years, Mahima India has rescued and rehabilitated child victims of rape. But there are still more children who are waiting to be rescued from the terrors of the red light district. When you support Mahima India, you help rescue more children and help each rescued child have everything he or she needs to recover and rebuild their lives. To support Mahima India:
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Shirley has been in the development sector for over 10 years and is passionate about making a change in the world around her, including adopting dogs and writing to make a difference.
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