A woman sells ice creams from a cart in a pocket of North 24-Parganas.
Her cart stores cups and cones of chocolate, vanilla and butterscotch flavours. It is also a showcase of unyielding grit and steely resolve.
The woman behind the cart is a trafficking survivor. I
In 2006, she was trafficked to Budhwar Peth, the infamous red-light district of Pune, at the age of 12 and abused till she reached adulthood. She was rescued in 2012.
Another battle began after she came back. She had to fight stigma and harassment, from her own family members and neighbours.
From rearing livestock to selling vegetables and learning embroidery, the woman, now 28, has tried multiple avenues with one purpose — having an income of her own.
The cart has offered a glimmer of hope.
The woman and her husband, who is aware of her past, started the ice cream venture in 2022. Since then, the couple have had a steady income.
“In summer, we make between Rs 800 and Rs 1,000 a day. In winter, it comes down to around Rs 400-500. For the first time in life, I have a steady income,” the survivor told this newspaper.
A shot in the arm came for her in the form of a victim compensation of Rs 6 lakh in 2019. But not without a fight.
She filed a victim compensation claim with the district legal services authority (DLSA) in North 24-Parganas in 2017. The DLSA granted her a compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh in 2018 but the woman challenged the order in the state legal services authority (SLSA). The SLSA passed an order on September 11, 2019, increasing the amount to Rs 6 lakh.
Challenging the first order was a big decision for her. But she went ahead on the advice of her lawyer.
Even when she got the order from the state authority, she received only Rs 1.5 lakh in hand. The SLSA mandates that three/fourths of the amount should be deposited in the recipient’s account with a nationalised bank.
“I invested the money I got in hand in this ice cream venture. I also used up whatever little savings I could manage. I had to make a security deposit of Rs 1.5 lakh with the company to get the cart,” the woman said.
The cart is mounted on a battery-operated three- wheeler.
“My husband rides it to a distributor near New Town to stock up. In summer, the stock ends in three days and two refills are needed every week. In winter, one,” she said.
For a sale of every hundred rupees, a seller gets to keep Rs 35.
The woman sells the ice creams around Malatipur station on the Barasat-Hasnabad suburban railway section.
She is the youngest of four sisters and three brothers. Her father had passed away when she was a child and her mother worked in a brick kiln.
The sisters worked as labourers at construction sites in Kolkata. The woman started accompanying them to the sites to work as help when she was barely 11 years old.
She was allegedly trafficked by a man who had befriended her on a local train in the Sealdah-Hasnabad section. She was sedated and trafficked to a brothel in Budhwar Peth, where she was abused and forced into prostitution.
After being rescued during a police raid in 2012, she spent some time in two government homes before being brought back to her village. But her ordeal was far from over. The legal and social battles continued.
“Her brothers kept harassing her. They demanded money after she got the compensation. She was beaten up, following which she filed a police complaint. She has since moved out of her parental home and lives with her husband now,” said Rabindranath Biswas, a social worker with Partners for Anti-Trafficking, a coalition of organisations that help in the rehabilitation of trafficking survivors from North 24-Parganas.
Biswas was instrumental in tracing the girl to Pune, bringing her home, and helping in her rehabilitation.
“She has faced one crushing blow after another. But she stood up every time, not willing to give up. She was wronged not just by the traffickers but by her own relatives. But her spirit is indomitable,” said Anirban Tarafder, the lawyer who represented her in challenging the compensation.
The survivor’s voice beamed when she told this newspaper about a “small fridge and a bed” that she bought for her modest home with the money earned from the cart.
“Anek kichhu kora baki achhe akhono (I have a lot more to do),” she said. Her list includes scaling up the business and renovating her house.“I want to buy a much larger refrigerator. Then I can stock up on more volumes and expand my business,” she said.