I met Lakshmi in October 2018. She was a tender-hearted soul yearning to meet her younger sister trapped in bondage and unable to move out of the clutches of the owner. She pleaded with us to help her meet with the sister whom she had not seen for two months. While she was speaking to us, I noticed two little toddlers comforting her. They called her “Amma,” i.e. mother. Lakshmi explained that she had been taking care of her younger sister’s daughters, who were hardly aware of who their mother was as they had not spent sufficient time with her. They were so young and had been away from their mother for so long that they did not hesitate to assume Lakshmi was, in fact, their mother.
As a team of empathetic social workers and advocates, we were able to support Lakshmi by taking her to the relevant government official who heard her out and promised to help her.
Two days later, Lakshmi arrived at the government office early, waiting to meet the authorities who promised to help her. As the government officials were busy with another project, Lakshmi and the children sat on a rusty bench waiting for justice to be settled. As we waited with her, she told us how the owner who had held her sister captive was powerful, influential and held a position in the government himself. To my surprise, Lakshmi seemed to be fearless; she was not apprehensive about dealing with a person of such high authority; she was determined to release her little sister from the town bully.
After waiting for approximately four hours, a senior official delegated the task to his subordinate who asked Lakshmi to wait as he was busy sorting disputes between local individuals from the community nearby. An hour later, Lakshmi, along with the government officials, headed to rescue her sister. The moment the victim saw her older sister, she left her unfinished business of making bricks and ran towards Lakshmi. The anger on the little sister’s face spoke volumes of the mental chains she was kept in by the owner.
She spoke of how the owner would ask for sexual favours and would not let her out of the facility. She spoke of how she was physically abused when she pleaded to go home to see her children. Lakshmi consoled her little sister while the victim sat down with both her children, sobbing, and I became a witness to the poignant scene of a mother reuniting with her children. The victim-turned-survivor is rebuilding her life today.
Lakshmi had made a bold decision to fight for her little sister, no matter what the consequence!
Seven long months have gone by as this older sister still stands strong, waiting for justice to prevail.