A brothel known for trafficking minors was shut down this past month due to the courage of a young survivor.
On a train ride, fifteen-year-old Maya* met a woman who tricked her into exploring a job opportunity in another part of India. When they arrived, the woman took Maya to a red-light district and sold her into prostitution. For the next year of her life, Maya was raped and exploited in a brothel with no hope of escape.
Then someone saw her.
A bystander noticed this young girl was being forced to solicit customers in front of the brothel and took this troubling information to the local Justice Hub. After further investigation, the Justice Hub and local authorities conducted a rescue operation and successfully brought Maya out. The team was also able to arrest four of her traffickers. Maya was reunited with her family and began to work with aftercare specialists, while Justice Hub lawyers began the work of seeking justice in court.
It took two years to bring Maya’s case to trial. To secure a conviction, Maya would need to take the stand, which meant leaving her village and the safe place where she had begun her healing process to return to the city that had caused immense trauma and face one of her traffickers in court.
Maya made the long journey and arrived at the courthouse visibly traumatized, struggling even to interact with the team that had rescued her. However, after a few days under the care of aftercare specialists, Maya was ready to head back to court. During the trial, neighbors, police, and doctors testified despite being threatened by the traffickers.
Finally, Maya took the stand, and her testimony sealed her trafficker’s fate.
The judge sentenced her abuser to twenty years in prison and ordered the sealing of the brothel premises.
Her trafficker’s cowardice had enslaved her, but Maya’s courage brought justice and saved future victims from falling prey to this trafficker.
*Pseudonym to protect the minor’s identity.
