The issue of abduction of a 14-year-old girl Tuktuki Mondal for human trafficking in West Bengal has gone global with protests worldwide.
Tuktuki Mondal, a resident of Magrahat block who was appearing for Class Xth exams was allegedly kidnapped by local goons and despite constant plea of her father with the local police and administration, her fate remains unknown.
With Human rights groups staging rallies in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, Washington DC, Atlanta yesterday for Tuktuki Mondal, the fourteen year old has become the global icon representing thousands of girls who have been kidnapped, raped and sold into sexual slavery in West Bengal, said a press release.
The Press release further added:
These global rallies were supported by human rights groups cutting across religious and ethnic divide. Sponsors include Overseas Friends of Bengal, Lawfare Project, Voices 4 Justice, Save West BengalDaughters, Human Rights Coalition Against Radical Islam, Hindi USA, Global Hindu Heritage Foundation and SEWA International.
Satya Dosapati a veteran human rights activist based in New York and the organizer of the solidarity rally in New York has approached many officials in West Bengal seeking Tuktuki’s release.
Achalesh Amar, who leads a 2000 strong team of volunteers in Houston and who helped to organize the rally there said, “I find it appalling that West Bengal, once at the forefront of art, culture and knowledge, is now in a pathetic situation”.
In Washington DC, the solidarity rally was held in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The venue was selected to focus on the need to rescue young girls from modern slavery.
In San Francisco, the activists met in the Centerville Community Park and held a candle light vigil to pray for Tuktuki and the other captive girls.
In Chicago, Prasad Yalamanchi, Chairman Global Hindu Heritage Foundation organized a rally of several veteran activists.
Similar rallies were held in Altanta where community leader Swadesh Katoch brought representatives of major ethnic and advocacy organizations to express solidarity with Tuktuki.
A rally is planned for today in London.
Additional rallies are expected in New Delhi, Pune and Vijayawada in India and other cities across the world such as Bangkok, Thailand. Recently one big rally in Kolkata the capital of the state of West Bengal, was disrupted by the local administration.
Earlier, in a Google Hangout session organized by a US-based social activist Satya on Saturday night, the girl’s father recounted the horrendous experiences he underwent to recover his daughter albeit unsuccessfully.
Editor’s Note: Below is a rough summary of the sequence of events as narrated by the victim’s father and translated by the organisers of the above Google Hangout. NitiCentral is making the transcript available for reader’s reference only. NitiCentral has no independent corroboration of the below sequence of events and cannot vouch for the complete reliability and accuracy of the same.
The incident happened on February 25, 2015, when the girl went to a bank to check her balance. There three persons abducted her, it is alleged . According to girl’s father, these three goons allegedly had the protection of a local don by the name of Salim, who it is alleged is a notorious criminal in the area.
After hearing the news, girl’s father immediately rushed to local Panchayat Pradhan who assured him of trying his best to recover his daughter and told him to meet next day. However, when the father went to Pradhan the next day, he advised him to lodge a complaint at the local police station. The father went to the Magrahat Police Station and lodged a complaint.
On the night of March 7, Salim’s men it is alleged called the girl’s father for a meeting at one Babusona Gazi’s home. When he went there, it is alleged that around 50 men were present with pistols and guns to threaten him. They allegedly ordered him to sign some blank papers and told him to withdraw the complaint. When he objected, the goons allegedly warned that he will see her daughter only if he withdrew the complaint and not get the girl medically examined. They also promised to help him financially with his daughter’s marriage. Frightened and devoid of any other option to save her, the father agreed to their proposal and signed the papers after which they handed his daughter to him. At home, girl’s mother informed the father that their daughter has been repeatedly raped.
On March 9, girl’s father went to Magrahat Police Station where the Investigating Officer it is alleged compelled him to sign some papers. Afterwards, the girl was taken to medical examination by police where it is alleged that Salim’s goons were already present and they allegedly threatened the father and girl openly brandishing guns at them even in the presence of the police. The girl was very scared so she signed a paper that mentioned she was not willing to get a medical examination done.
Scared of the goons, the parents decided to marry their girl despite her being under age.
The father informed the local Panchayat Pradhan about the marriage. He also informed the elder brother of the accused about it as they had promised to help him with his daughter’s marriage.
On May 5 at 1:00 am, the accused accompanied with his father and brother-in-law it is alleged barged into the victim’s house. After switching off the electricity supply in the area, it is alleged that they ransacked the house at gun point and looted all the money and ornaments that the victim’s father had collected for her marriage. Afterwards, it is alleged that they took the girl again with them. When the parents screamed for help, the goons allegedly hurled bombs and fled.
The victim’s father again met the Pradhan for help but he allegedly didn’t do anything.
On the evening of May 5, 2015, he went to Magrahat Police Station and narrated the whole incident to the Officer in Charge and the Investigating Officer. He noticed that while lodging the complaint, the police excluded the name of the accused Instead, the police added new names. When the father protested, the officer it is alleged scolded him and warned him to sign the papers if he wanted to see his daughter alive.
The victim’s father said that afterwards he has been to the police station several times to enquire about his daughter and also told them that he and his family is under constant threat from the accused’s family and friends and also from Salim’s thugs. The police, however, always tell him that they are trying.
Losing all faith in police, the father decided to visit Kolkata and ask for help from Tapan Ghosh, founder and editor of Hindu Samhati, an organization that looks after the causes and issues of Hindu community. Tapan Ghosh promised him to help and retrieve his daughter as soon as possible. He helped the victim’s father draft a letter to PM Modi as well as to West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee to ask them for help in finding his daughter.
On June 29, the victim’s father got a call from an unknown person who told him to go to Sonarpur to get his daughter. Accompanied with a few members of Hindu Samhati and three relatives, when the father reached Sonarpur, the same unknown person told him to go to Ghutiyari Sharif, which is known for a number of notorious criminals residing there. Taking all the risks, eventually they reached there. The Investigating Officer it is alleged was also there accompanied by policemen from Jibantala Police Station. The victim’s father didn’t know how they got the news. The location was adjacent to Dhoaghata mosque.
The father it is allegedly repeatedly requested the police to stay away but they didn’t listen. The unknown person realized that the father was accompanied by the police and immediately cut the call. The police left afterwards.
In a few moments after the police left, hundreds of people rushed to them from the mosque and attacked the victim’s father, relatives and members of Hindu Samhati. With no police support, they had no option but to flee from there.
As of today, the father still hasn’t found his daughter and Tutuki Mandal’s fate remains unknown.
Atlanta, GA: Atlanta was one of several cities across the world where rallies where held to save Tuktuki Mandal and thousands of minor girls in West Bengal who are picked off streets, gang raped and human trafficked across India and Middle Eastern nations for sexual slavery.
Tuktuki Mondal is a 14 year old daughter of a daily wage laborer residing in Khapur village under Magrahat PS in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal,India.
“Tuktuki has become an unlikely icon symbolizing the fight of women in areas reeling under Islamic fundamentalism,” said a press release issued by the organization “Save West Bengal Daughters”.
“Magrahat is located not far from State Capital Kolkata. Islamic fundamentalists run the administration locally. She was once kidnapped while on her way to the bank by one local predator, Babusona Ghazi and his friends. She was raped in their custody but was finally released under the condition that there would be no medical examination of her, no police complaint and that she should be married off early, under aged.” said the release.
Agreeing to these conditions at gun-point, Tuktuki’s dad Subhas Mondal was able to secure her release from these local goons.
“Tuktuki is an extremely bright student, studying in class 10. She was preparing for her pre-final examinations when on the fateful night of May 4th, her house was attacked again. The goons violently ransacked their small house as a warning. Tuktuki and her family tried in vain to resist, she screamed for help, but was dragged away. Subhas did not see her daughter again. Few days later he was called by anonymous caller to go to a place to recover his daughter, redirected to another place near a Mosque where a 700 people mob nearly killed him. His family moved out of their village fearing their lives but has not given up (hopes) of getting their daughter back. Her father has reached out to police, Chief Minister, State Commission for backward classes, State commission for women and even to the Prime Minister to no avail,” said the release.
The release says that nearly 100 girls are kidnapped or induced per day and human trafficked to as far as the Middle East or across the border, across 32,000 villages in West Bengal.
More photos of the Atlanta rally can be found on their facebook page:
They first abducted her in February and released her on the condition that her parents do not file a police complaint, but they abducted her once again in May.
Several overseas Bengali organisations holding protests in the UK and US to put pressure on the state governmentClass 10 student Tuktuki Mandal was first abducted in February this year while she was returning home after some bank work. Some local goons took the teenager to a secluded place under Magrahaat police station area in South 24 Parganas and gang-raped her. Tuktuki’s father Subhash Mandal, a daily wager, approached the village headman and the local police for help.
“Tuktuki was released on the condition that the parents neither file a police complaint nor have a medical examination conducted to ascertain rape,” said Siddharth Nath Singh, the national secretary of Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and the party’s in charge in Bengal. The teen’s ordeal did not end here.
In May, she was once again abducted by the same men as she was preparing to take her Class 10 examination. Singh said this time the abductors ransacked the house and threatened to kill Tuktuki if a police complaint was made. Her father has alleged that despite naming the accused in the complaint, the police were not initiating any investigations against them and were instead putting pressure on Tuktuki’s family to withdraw the complaint.
Even as Tuktuki remains untraceable till today, the Bengal unit of the BJP has sought an appointment with Governor Kesri Nath Tripathi to protest Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee government’s alleged inaction in tracing Tuktuki. The case has assumed a political hue with the BJP planning protests not just at Magrahaat police station under whose jurisdiction the abduction took place but also in Kolkata.
Besides, the BJP plans to sit on an indefinite strike till the Mamata Banerjee government orders a probe into Tuktuki’s kidnapping. “We suspect there is a very elaborate human trafficking and prostitution racket and the Mamata Banerjee government, for reasons best known to it, is taking no action,” Singh added. Tuktuki’s disappearance has also led to several overseas Bengali organisations holding protests in the UK and US to put pressure on the state government.
The ruling Trinamool Congress has, however, termed the BJP campaign “political” and “devoid of merit”. Refusing to speak on record, a TMC leader said the government had worked hard to reduce crimes against women. “The accused in the case are not TMC supporters, so there is no question of either a cover-up or going slow,” the TMC leader said
Source: WHN Media Network