A Bangladeshi mother was determined to handle things on her own when her teenage daughter was abducted by human traffickers. To save her daughter, she turned to traffic to get help.
Mothers are known for their unconditional love and incessant support for their children. This mother’s story proves that. She saved her daughter through her courage and bravery in the face of terrible consequences.
34-year-old Asiya went through hell and back when her 16-year-old daughter Marium fell prey to a cross-border trafficking ring. The names of the mother and daughter duo have been changed to protect confidentiality and safety.
The mother-daughter duo’s incredible tale was brought to light when they were found trying to re-enter Bangladesh from India in June. Their incredible rescue story left everyone, even Indian border officials, baffled. Asiya told VICE World News:
“I did it not just for my eldest daughter. It was also for many other people.”
On January 15, a family acquaintance offered a job to Marium, and she accepted it because it seemed a good fit. Since the job offer was in a district near the Indian border, the man asked her to pack up and leave, and she complied.
When her 16 year-old daughter disappeared, she decided to take the matter into her own hands. https://t.co/irokphsh3k
— VICE (@VICE) September 19, 2021
But when the recruiter handed her over to two other men, it dawned upon Marium that something was terribly wrong. She was then taken to the border by two men, and forced into a boat. She sobbed and resisted, but her efforts were in vain.
“He noted that while the traffickers keep changing their strategies, fake job offers, love affairs and marriage remain constant. “
Her efforts eventually paid off. Marium was saved by a fellow passenger who gave her their mobile phone. Marium immediately called Marium’s mother to tell her that she would save her daughter as she was being transported to India. She also shared the name of her perpetrators before the phone was snatched.
Her Daughter was kidnapped by traffickers. So she sold her daughter to traffickers. by @pallavipundir and @muktadirnewage https://t.co/fXpqJTBn2W via @viceworldnews
— MUKTADIR rashid ROMEO (@muktadirnewage) September 17, 2021
Marium was taken to a brothel located in the eastern Indian state of Bihar. Asiya, who was feeling sick at home in Dhaka and wanted to file a missing person report about her daughter, ran to the police station.
After waiting for 40 days, she was exhausted and the police did not promise her an investigation. After waiting for 40 days, the police promised her an investigation. However, Asiya decided to take matters into her own hands and traced Marium’s phone number in February.
Asiya informed the man that she was interested in working abroad, and was delighted to learn that one was available in India. She then took out all her savings, which included Taka 60,000 ($703). She then fled, hiding the money in a wig and covering her head with a scarf.
Last month,the story of a Bangladeshi woman’s rescue of her daughter from the hands of traffickers went viral. Here, I ask why she couldn’t access the justice system at home, and instead had to get herself trafficked to India in order to get her child back https://t.co/xNe5ddm6zu
— Shuprova Tasneem (@ShuprovaTasneem) September 8, 2021
When Asiya came to a brothel in New Delhi, India, there was no sign of Marium. Later she found out that not all girls were taken to the same place. She received a phone call in June from her husband stating that Marium had called him via a client’s telephone.
Asiya soon set out to find her daughter, who was living in a brothel 800 miles from New Delhi. Marium’s customers and a few locals helped Asiya find her daughter in New Delhi, the next day of June 18.
According to the brothel owner, Marium had been bought for $3,404 from Bangladesh. Her captors, Mohammad Kalu, 40, Mohammad Shohag, 32, and Billal Hossain, 41, were arrested by Bangladesh’s special security force, the Rapid Action Battalion.
Horrifing, sickening and depressing that sexual trafficking of girls and young women even exists… to know that 20,000 to 50,000 Children and Women are being trafficked from Bangladesh alone, every year, calls for Divine Justice to intercede.
— Sophia (@sophia_mw369) September 17, 2021
They’d been operating a huge trafficking ring and sold every victim for $1,173 to $1,760. An estimated 20,000 children and women from Bangladesh are trafficked each year across the unfenced Indian border.
Mohammad Tariqul Islam who is the director of the Bangladeshi chapter Justice and Care also spoke out about the mother-daughter rescue.
He pointed out that although traffickers are constantly changing their strategies, fake job offers, love affairs and marriages remain constant.