Free, at last

In a shabby room at Budhwar Peth, where she entertained her customers, this 19-year-old had an unusual farewell request.She would hand them ...

In a shabby room at Budhwar Peth, where she entertained her customers, this 19-year-old had an unusual farewell request.

She would hand them a slip of paper with some Kolkata phone numbers on it. ‘‘These are the numbers of my relatives,’’ she would whisper. ‘‘Please, please tell them I am here and ask them to rescue me.’’

It was a strange request to make to men who had just slept with her for a handful of rupees. The 19-year-old was desperate. For four months, she kept handing out these slips. Finally, someone called up Kolkata and she — whisked away against her wishes and forced into the flesh trade — was rescued on Thursday.

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Her journey to Pune had begun as dramatically as t ended. As a baby-sitter in Belgharia town in West Bengal, she used to travel by train everyday. One day, a fellow-commuter offered her a laddoo. The next thing she remembered was waking up in a Pune lodge. By evening, two women had “bought” her.

Time and again she tried to escape and on each occasion, she was caught and beaten. Then she started giving out the slips. In Kolkata, her uncle got a call from a man who would not identify himself.

The uncle visited Budhwar Peth and found out which brothel she was working at. Not sure how to proceed, he returned to Kolkata, where a DIG of police wrote a note to the Pune police, asking them to help. The uncle returned to Pune, armed with the note.

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