The recent rescue of a Sundargarh woman from Madhya Pradesh by Odisha Police has brought the focus back on human trafficking, especially of women, from the tribal-dominated Sundargarh district.
In April, the Sadar Police Station received a complaint from Lalindra Bera of Gotabandha village that his 19-year-old daughter was missing. Subsequently, family members received a call from the woman, who had been confined at a remote location. They came to know she had been forcibly married off to a person in Karwakhedi village in Madhya Pradesh’s Ratlam district. The woman was lured to migrate for work by middlemen who offered her a “decent job” and transferred ₹60,000 to her father’s account.
“It was a clear case of human trafficking as the woman was forcibly married and confined. After her rescue, we have handed her over to her parents. Now we have expanded the scope of our investigation to find out if any bigger organised gang is at work,” said Sagarika Nath, Sundargarh Superintendent of Police (SP).
