Free, at last

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 8212; whisked away against her wishes and forced into the flesh trade 8212; was rescued on Thursday.

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 8220;bought8221; 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.