It was a rainy day in rural India. The Exodus Road’s investigators had been gathering intel on a hotel-based brothel for the past three days. Now, they were ready to move forward with a rescue mission with local police.
Investigators found four young adult women and two boys (ages 16 and 17), who were being forced to work in the brothel. The women were forced to have sex with multiple customers a day, while the boys cleaned up after customers. Investigators also helped arrest three traffickers and five customers.
We commonly find women who are being forced into the commercial sex industry; however, boys can be trafficked too. Boys are also trafficked into the commercial sex industry, as well as forced labor situations like we see in this most recent case. The Exodus Road believes in freedom. We are committed to helping find and free people caught in all forms of modern slavery — from those who are forced into prostitution to those who are forced to work long hours for little or no pay. The teenage boys who were being exploited in this case are now on their way to freedom and new opportunities.
One of the women who was trafficked, Nandita,* had been held in this particular brothel for 15 days. As our social worker sat down to speak with her, tears streamed down Nandita’s face. From a poor family, she had never been to school and was in desperate need of a job. She accepted a job offer on the other side of the country, but when she arrived she was instead sold into prostitution. Nandita’s parents had no idea what had happened to her.
Vulnerability and Trafficking
Nandita’s story is not uncommon. Traffickers prey on poor, uneducated individuals, and in many cases lure them out of their communities with the promise of work. Nandita’s circumstances made her an easy target. Like countless others, she became a victim of human trafficking.
Often, word never gets back to the family, and in many cases, no one knows where to look for their lost loved ones.
But in Nandita’s case, you stepped in and made rescue happen. Your generosity made it possible for our investigators to find and free Nandita. Now she has the chance to go home.
Today, she is recovering in a safe home, receiving care and protection. Our social workers will continue to follow up and support her in the first steps back into freedom. You made that happen.
*The name Nandita is representative and means “happy, joyous.”
