Rape survivor from Bangladesh to return, leaves behind poems

The woman, hailing from Rajarhat in Bangladesh, left home in May due to domestic violence. After reaching Kolkata, the mother of three girls decided to move to Mumbai. On the way, she was reportedly befriended by a Kerala youth, A B Noufel. Noufel allegedly lured her to Bangalore after promising her a job. Later, she was handed over to a Kerala couple, who brought her to Kozhikode, where she was reportedly confined to a flat and repeatedly abused by different people. She escaped in May and helped in exposing a sex racket.

Last week, a trial court completed her examination, paving way for her return to Bangladesh.

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While staying at the government-run asylum in Kozhikode, she started writing her reflections in verse. She also sketched on the walls of the shelter home.

It was only two months back that activists from an NGO, Arm of Joy, noticed her work, written in Bangla, her mother tongue. “We got the poems translated to English, before turning the work into Malayalam,” said Arm of Joy managing trustee G Anoop.

“During the visits, I noticed she can also paint. We encouraged her to work on a canvas..She seemed to have started writing to escape the horrible memories,” he added. The victim, a seventh class dropout, had no previous experience in painting, he said.

Advocate Sapna Paremeshwarath, who counselled the victim, said: “She is eager to meet her children. But at the same time, her determination to get her perpetrators punished has forced her to remain in Kerala. Her poems reflect her mental status.’’