We all humans born in 21st century and we are living in 21st century. We are gentle. We are wise. We are clever. We are intelligent. If God is the creator of this universe then we can say we humans are just after God in this universe. We came here with a lot of expectations and hope. We have a lot of desires. We are here committed to take advantage of this vast and unexplored nature. We came here to live and enjoy our life at the fullest.
In between this we all humans rather than being a civilized and social animal of this earth, we always do something worst whenever our need turns into greed and we always tried to do whatever beyond the expectations from our human culture, civilization and behavior. From the time immemorial we know that man always used woman for his needs, for his desires, for his satisfaction. They always thought that women are their slaves and they can use them according to their need. They never behaved with her like human being as if she is a different creature on the earth. And this problem is continued till now but today’s scenario of all these crimes against women is much more than those of the past. Not a single day passes without us getting the news of rape, domestic violence, sexual assault, women trafficking and many more. Then how is it possible to say that we are civilized, we are modern? When another part of our society is not safe, when the another type of human beings is not safe just due to our greedy nature then how can we say that we are civilized? Shame on us humans!
There are various social evils attacking the women of our society. And one of the most serious problems nowadays is women trafficking. Women trafficking means a girl or woman is kidnapped by someone or a group of people who first harass her then sell her to another group and send her to different parts for different purposes but mainly for prostitution or any other illegal businesses.
They are dealing with her just like drugs or such illegal businesses. Sometimes they are doing it without the consent of police and sometimes they are doing it openly. We can say that behind every illegal work there are hands of some big people. We have to come forward to eradicate this evil. But how can we eradicate it completely when behind every crime there is the same person who is known as our helper, who is known as the God of law. It’s difficult, but it’s not impossible to eradicate this evil from our society. We just have to come forward.
Ridhima, a young girl of mid nineteen, was living in her village along with her father and step mother. Her mother died when she was only six months old. After that her father re-married a woman of a nearby village and started a new life. He was very happy with her and forgot everything about his past. But another side Ridhima was very unfortunate as first she lost her mother and then she was harassed by her step mother. In initial days her step mother gave her love and care but when time passed and she gave birth to her child, her behavior changed. She started teasing her for her life and harassed her with no reason. She beat her on little mistakes. She was even scolded by her father; whenever her father came to home, her step mother would complain him about her and she was badly beaten by him. She cried, she wept but unfortunately no one came forward to help her.
As she grew up so grew her tortures. She didn’t get proper education as her mother adviced her father not to send her school anymore. If she goes then who would do the household chores? Who will care her baby boy? Her father, blind in love, did everything according to his wife.
With each passing day she was harassed by her parents. And now she was also harassed by her step-brother, much younger to her. This way passed her childhood and she entered into the age of juvenile to adult. Now her parents’ concern was her marriage. And they were upset for her mother didn’t want to invest money in her marriage. She didn’t want to give her assets and jewelry. She was cursing herself. She was in search of trick to come out of this situation. She tried to talk to her husband about this.
One day, she discussed husband and made a plan to escape from investing money in her marriage. According to her plan instead of investing money they will be able to earn money. In another room, Ridhima, the innocent girl, was sleeping peacefully. Do you know what their plan? And what they are going to do with her? Yes, they are going to do that with their daughter which is completely shocking thing for us if we think with a bit of humanity. It’s totally unbelievable. Yet it’s true. It’s something that would hurt our belief system.
According to her plan, her father has to find a person who will take her hand in front of them for marriage purpose. They will come to see her to marry her. When everything will be complete then they will take her from her parents and will move away from there. Ridhima will be totally unaware of this. And as she will get the news of her marriage, she will behave nicely in front of them. After her marriage they will live a good life with those money because the cost of her they will get enough to enjoy their life peacefully.
Next day her father acted according to the plan. He started searching someone who can take her. Fortunately in the same day he got someone who deals in the business trafficking and supplies women to make money. But do you know? A woman is the enemy of another woman. In all these deals some women are always present. In red light areas women are head of this business. Some do for their own sake and some do due to pressure of dealers who own the business. All these are interlinked and thus business is also huge.
In the evening her father came to home and informed her mother and Ridhima about a person who will come to see her for marriage. After hearing it, she started weeping but her parents comforted her by saying that she was going to get married to a rich man. She will enjoy a happy and prosperous life. She needs not to worry about her future. After that she went to her room with a sad face. And her parents went in another to discuss about their next deal.
Next day a man and woman came to their home to see her. Her mother kept her ready before their arrival. They asked some questions just escaping their blinking eyes from her and they were very happy with their plans. Just in one hour everything was completed; they accepted the proposal and left her home. But Ridhima was unaware of all these things. What’s going on in her family? What’s going on with her life?
After two days they again came to her and asked her father to give her hands to him. Her father was ready to send her instantly. She was upset and didn’t understand what was happening to her. She tried to ask her father about it but it was too late. They forcefully dragged her and rode on a car and left. She kept on crying but no one bothered to care. Sometimes they even beat her. Sometimes they abused her. After sometime they reached to their destination and threw her in a room. She tried a lot to run away but she could not. As she was locked in a room and there was no way to escape. She was hungry and thirsty but no one was there to take care of her.
Two days later a woman came to her room. She was tall, healthy, around 50 years old. She came to meet her and started talking to her innocently. But Ridhima denied to talk to her and asked her to free her. When she insisted a lot then she became angry and threw a glass of water on her and gave some dresses and jewelry to be ready in next one hour. Ridhima threw away the clothes. Her behavior angered the lady and she slapped her hard. She ordered her to be ready otherwise she will take harsh action on her. Then she left. But there was no effect on Ridhima and she just kept sitting there. One hour later, she came again but saw that Ridhima was just sitting there and was not yet ready. Then she took a wire and contacted in her body. She started screaming. She called someone and asked her to get her ready and she did her job.
In afternoon after three days she came outside from that room and she was presented in front of the same women whom she met earlier along with two other men who were sitting in front of her. By she understood everything about what her parents did to her. Actually her parents sold her for money to the human traffickers. They were buying and selling girls and women and did whatever they wanted to do with them.
They asked her name. They asked her to dance in front of them but she denied. The two men became angry on the woman beside them and asked her to return their money. That woman instructed her workers to keep her ready for what they want otherwise she will lose this deal.
She denied, she cried but in vain. It seems like everyone present there was not human and there was nothing like kindness left in their body. They were humans but they wore a blanket of cruelty over their body. She was crying but they were enjoying the screaming voice. They were laughing, they were snatching her like a stray dogs snatch something when they get in the roads.
After that they kept her in a room and the two men went there along with her. She was crying loudly. She was trembling with fear. She was cursing. But no one was there to help her to overcome this pain. No one was there to take care of her emotions. She lost everything. She lost her life. She was alive but there was no life in her. Her hands were brutally damaged with broken bangles but no one was there to collect broken pieces of her bangles and to cure her bruises and scars.
It’s not a story of only one Ridhima. In fact, if we look around us then we will get several Ridhimas with the same story. But no one comes forward to eradicate this. Everyone acts blind. Rather than being a human we are behaving like animals. We are humans but we are living in the world of cruelty where for our own desire we are killing our own identity. We are killing our own species. It’s totally unfair. We must have to come forward to eradicate this. We have to come forward to help them. We must have to remove curtains from this evil part of our society.
Writer: Anjali Jha
Artist: Sunanda Basu Mallik
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