KHADIJA Khatun, a member of Bijoyini survivor’s collective and a survivor leader at the Indian Leadership Forum Against Trafficking (ILFAT), was 15 years old when she was trafficked to Bihar by a friend. For many years, she experienced both mental and physical torture at the hands of her traffickers. Today, 11 years later, she remembers that time as the most difficult phase in her life when she battled both physical and mental trauma.
After competing rehabilitation, she joined Bijoyini in Hasnabad in North 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, and started working as a volunteer, helping plan awareness campaigns against issues such as child marriage, domestic violence, and human trafficking.
She says her journey from a survivor of trafficking to survivor leader was full of challenges, but she wanted to move on. Today, Khatun, who is five months pregnant, works with young girls in the community, motivating them through positive dialogue so that they can learn from her experience. In the future, she plans to build a house for her child.
Dipti, a member of Alorpath survivor’s collective and survivor leader at ILFAT, was trafficked from West Bengal to Bihar to work as a dancer in an orchestra when she was 14 years old by a woman known to her family. Recalling her experience, Dipti says that being a part of the dance group meant wearing short clothes, which made her uncomfortable, and being forced to drink. Her traffickers used to feed her pills on the pretext of boosting immunity since she suffered from headaches, but she was being given intoxicants.
This story is from the November 11, 2023 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the November 11, 2023 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
The Propaganda Files
A recent spate of Hindi films distorts facts and creates imaginary villains. Century-old propaganda cinema has always relied on this tactic
Will Hindutva Survive After 2024?
The idealogy of Hindutva faces a challenge in staying relevant
A Terrific Tragicomedy
Paul Murray's The Bee Sting is a tender and extravagant sketch of apocalypse
Trapped in a Template
In the upcoming election, more than the Congress, the future of the Gandhi family is at stake
IDEOLOGY
Public opinion will never be devoid of ideology: but we shall destroy ourselves without philosophical courage
The Many Kerala Stories
How Kerala responded to the propaganda film The Kerala Story
Movies and a Mirage
Previously portrayed as a peaceful paradise, post-1990s Kashmir in Bollywood has become politicised
Lights, Cinema, Politics
FOR eight months before the 1983 state elections in undivided Andhra Pradesh, a modified green Chevrolet van would travel non-stop, except for the occasional pit stops and food breaks, across the state.
Cut, Copy, Paste
Representation of Muslim characters in Indian cinema has been limited—they are either terrorists or glorified individuals who have no substance other than fixed ideas of patriotism
The Spectre of Eisenstein
Cinema’s real potency to harness the power of enchantment might want to militate against its use as a servile, conformist propaganda vehicle