Neerja Verma is a social worker and Social Studies teacher in a government school in the city of Shitalpur. She dons her peach coloured sari with a light red border. Applying kohl in her eyes, she places a medium-sized red-coloured bindi at the forehead’s centre. Few minutes later, Beena, her 14-year old daughter, calls out for breakfast.
“Ma, aaj naashte mei kya hai? (What’s for breakfast today?) Oh! Phirse cornflakes…”
Haan, beta… aaj khaalo. (Have it for today.) I will prepare something special tomorrow as it is Saturday. It is already 7:45 a.m. you will miss the school bus. Finish your breakfast quickly and run.”
Beena boards the bus and leaves for school.
At 8 a.m., Neerja is on her way to school in the auto. The commute time to school is 20 minutes, including two traffic signals. The sun is shining on the first traffic signal that has turned red for 120 seconds. The timer is running. Neerja observes a man secretly clicking pictures of young girls standing at the chai shop in the nukkad on the diagonal-right of the road. The girls are students of a medical college, located 10 minutes away from the chai shop. The incident keeps rankling on her mind. The police station is 500m away from the second traffic signal. She thinks of informing the police but later drops the plan. The bell rings. Students gather at the assembly hall for the Morning Prayer.
After the assembly, students go to their respective classrooms. At 1 p.m., Neerja proceeds towards the Staff Room for lunch. Satish, the Mathematics teacher, observes her for some time and then asks, “Sab theek hai na? (Is everything alright?)” Neerja nods with a smiling face.
At 3p.m. another day at the schools ends. Neerja is passing through the same route, when she sees the same mischievous man, now clicking pictures of school girls. At home, Beena talks about her day at school. Neerja helps her finish homework and at 5:30 p.m. Beena runs down to the playground.
Next day, after witnessing the same incident, Neerja puts her foot down and decides to file a police complaint.
“Inspector, I have seen a man secretly clicking pictures of young girls near the nukkad tea shop at Bhure Marg.”
“Madam, are you sure?”
“Yes, Sir. I have been observing his nuances for some days now. En route to school the chai shop is visible from the opposite traffic signal. The man parks his motorcycle, smokes a cigarette, has tea and then hides behind a tree and clicks photos.”
“Ok, Madam. We shall look into the case.”
She thanks the Inspector and leaves. Next day, the dead body of a girl from the medical college is found near a godown at Chhapra. (Chhapra is located 100 kms away from Shitalpur and 15 kms away from NH 8 that heads towards Delhi.)
Neerja rushes to the police station. “Sir, I have seen her at the nukkad 2 weeks ago. I am sure, that mischievous man is involved in her murder.”
“Madam, first get relax and sit down. SI Mishra will file your complaint.”
She leaves the station in half an hour.
A thorough investigation begins. First two weeks do not reveal much information. In the third week, Neerja receives a threat call.
A crude voice from the other side sounds a warning, “What’s the problem with you? Don’t interfere in this case otherwise nobody knows what your future will look like. Shut up and mind your own business.”
Few droplets of sweat trickle down her forehead. She informs the SI about the threat call. The Delhi police finally get a lead after 20 days – Chatur Singh, a key member of Lallan Bhai’s team. Lallan Bhai is the kingpin of women trafficking in Delhi. His agents kidnap young girls from schools and colleges and sell them to top-notch businessmen, politicians and Sheikhs in the Middle East. The price range is minimum 5 lakh for a good-looking, voluptuous girl and goes up to 1 crore.
Chatur Singh is taken into police custody immediately. However, he refuses to share details about the flesh trade. ACP Khatri is the in-charge of this case.
Khatri: “You silly muck! Tell me about your boss. I want to know each and every detail about the business. If you don’t tell me (slaps Chatur), I have other ways. Do you want me to show you my true colours?”
Chatur spits on Khatri’s face.
Khatri gets into a fit of rage and punches Chatur’s face twice. His lip starts bleeding and eye turns black and blue. No luck. Khatri commands his havaldar to make the culprit confess the truth.
After 2 days, Ronnie, another team member of Lallan gang is arrested. No luck even this time. Next day, Khatri receives a call from John, the right-hand of Lallan.
‘Don’t waste time else you will have to pay a heavy price.”, and he hangs up.
Meanwhile, Neerja is in talks with advocate Sarita who is a renowned lawyer in cases related to women trafficking. Neerja is a bit impatient and yells, “Why isn’t the police able to catch Lallan?’ Now, even the officer-in-charge has received threat calls.
Sarita gestures Neerja to calm down. “It isn’t so easy to convict Lallan. He is a dreaded criminal and has been involved in several rape cases too. Let us give police their due. They are trying hard.” She offers Neerja a glass of water.
3 years later
Khatri spots John at a roadside dhaba on NH8. Khatri alerts his team, ‘Our man is here. I am sending location on Whatsapp. Looks like he will be here for some time. Come quickly.’
The team reaches the said location and arrests John after 15 minutes’ brawl. In the Press Conference after 2 days, the Commissioner of Police addresses, “We have finally arrested Lallan and rescued 120 girls. The girls were given a high dose of drugs so they have been sent to a shelter home in Delhi for rehabilitation. Few girls who were physically tortured and sexually abused have been shifted to AIIMS for treatment.”
The next day, Neerja heaves a sigh of relief as she reads the headlines “Kingpin Lallan Arrested”. Her eyes become moist as she sips tea slowly.
A report in The Hindu, dated July 31, 2019
“Recent data tabled in Parliament on human trafficking shows that the number of traffickers arrested in the country has also increased. In the year 2014, about 8,220 persons were arrested in connection with human trafficking. The figure increased 10,080 in 2015 and 10,815 in 2016. The data also points out that one in every six trafficker arrested from the country is from Bengal.
Between 2014 and 2016, 4,868 traffickers (1,384 in 2014, 1,637 in 2015, and 1,847 in 2016) were arrested from the State. This accounts for 16.7 % of all traffickers (29,115) arrested in the country between 2014 to 2016. These figures were provided by Ministry of Home Affairs in Lok Sabha in response to a question on July 23.”
Writer: Devika Das
Artist: Sunanda Basu Mallik
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