Source: The Times of India
Prithvijit Mitra, TNN | May 30, 2013, 04.57 AM IST
KOLKATA: She narrowly escaped being trafficked at the age of 23, walked out on her husband refusing to cow down to his dowry demands and got together a dozen other women from the neighbourhood to launch a movement against girl trading.
Her gritty effort has wiped out trafficking from Katiahat — a remote rural backyard in North 24-Parganas, about 75 km from Kolkata — where every second woman was vulnerable to trafficking.
It was around eight years ago that Monika Sarkar, a handicraft worker, raised her voice of protest. Monika's courageous leadership has not only thwarted the traffickers, it has also helped a large number of women in the area turn self-sufficient. Next month, the 32-year-old will fly to the USA to receive the prestigious International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP) award given by the US Department of State.
Every morning, the courageous woman travels about 5 km from her home in Sayestanagar village — which has seen more than a hundred woman being sold off to red-light areas across the country in the last 10 years — to her office in Katiahat. There, she is joined by other women from neighbouring villages who go door to door, warning girls and women against trafficking.
"We tell them to be careful about men who offer jobs in other cities or lure young women into marriage. Nearly 60% of the women leaving their villages never return. Invariably, they are trafficked and forced into flesh trade. It's not easy convincing parents to desist from sending their girls to work. Or, to stop them from allowing their girls to get married to near-strangers. But we have managed to create awareness about trafficking. It is evident from the fact that not more than 2 to 3 girls go missing from the area every month now. Previously, it would be around a dozen," said Monika.
She is thrilled about the IVLP award that will let her travel abroad. "I have never been to any big city other than Kolkata. Going to the USA is like a dream and I am looking forward to sharing my experience with people from around the world," she said.
A mother of two, Monika had almost been handed over to traffickers after she refused to get more dowry, four years into her marriage. She left her in-laws' home with her daughters and started working as a handicraft worker to support herself. "I noticed that scores of women from my village and those in neighbouring Swarupnagar, Baduria and Basirhat went missing every year. The few who were rescued were never accepted by their families. I felt this should be stopped and raised my voice against traffickers, mostly local youths," she said. Before she had realized, her protest had crystallized into a movement with many other women joining the campaign. The consequence was far from pleasant. Monika was threatened and asked to leave the village within a week. The gritty woman, however, stayed put and got more to join the protest.
Soon, she came in touch with an NGO in Kolkata that helped her intensify the campaign. Whenever a girl went missing, Monika and her volunteers would inform the police and activate a rescue chain with assistance from the NGO. Counselling would be arranged for the rescued victims and efforts made to rehabilitate them. Scores of trafficked girls in the area have been sent back to their families and later married off, something that was impossible till a decade ago. Monika doesn't stop at that. She has even started an initiative to identify traffickers across villages.
"We realized that she was an exceptionally brave woman who was fighting a social evil. So, we lent her all the support and guidance that we could. But even without our help, Monika has been doing a commendable job. She has shown that she is a true leader," said Bappaditya Mukherjee of Prantakatha, the NGO.
Monika and her team are now working in Swarupnagar and Baduria where trafficking continues. "Last month, two girls disappeared from Swarupnagar. We are trying to trace them with help from some NGOs in other states and the police," said Monika. It won't be easy reuniting them with their families even if they are rescued, pointed out Monika. "Despite counselling and all the campaign, there is a tendency to disown trafficked girls. It's changing, though. Thankfully, families are now convinced that the trafficked women are innocent. They are merely victims of circumstances," said Monika.
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