Rohingya Women Have Been Smuggled In India for a Decade

MTS Chandra

RB News
April 19, 2016 

New Delhi -- Women trafficking becomes a major issue worldwide. Like other Asian countries, there are Rohingya women being trafficked in India. It has become a source of income for some smugglers from Myanmar, Bangladesh and India.

As there are many marriage restrictions for Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, it cost much money (Approximately US dollar $5,000 to $10,000) from the women's side, which is a huge amount for a bourgeois Rohingya. Most people cannot afford that large amount of money. For this reason, some of the Rohingya parents send their daughters to other countries for marriage. Among them, some poor girls reached India by the luring of smugglers. Most of them are unlucky like Senowara (20) and Alkama (18) who are originally from Buthidaung Township, Arakan state (Rakhine state). These two girls crossed to India under agent Islam (50) (dalal Islam) this week. By a reliable source, the agent resides with his family in Leda camp, Teknaf, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.

In Bangladesh, trafficker Islam started to show his real face by concealing these two girls' luggage in Chittagong. After reaching the border of India, he threatened the two poor girls and snatched a pair of gold earings and a gold hair clutcher from them. That same day, he disconnected them from their relatives who were already in India.

Then, after a week, their relatives in India got a call from Border hearing that if they don't send Rupees 20,000, they will sell the two girls. The next day one of Rohingya youths heard that the two girls are in Delhi and the the trafficker Islam was planning on selling them into prostitution. 

Fortunately, the same day, Genius Youth Club (a Rohingya youth club under UNHCR-Bosco) leader Sohail Khan with some club members rescued the two girls in Gaziabaad, Delhi from a very miserable condition and sent them to their relatives in Hyderabad. The case was handed over to the Rohingya Refugee Committee Delhi.

However, there has been no lawful action taken against the traffickers like Islam, even though there are already several Rohingya women trafficking complaints against them. The two recent victims are to seek protection of UNHCR and Government of India.

According to a research, smugglers sell Rohingya girls to prostitutions, to over-aged Indians and as well as to Sikh (Punjabi-Sarder) by saying that they are Moulanas (religious teacher of Muslims). Some are sold as domestic workers while others are in prison for an unlimited time with the charge of illegal border cross. Sometimes smugglers rape the girls on the way. 

There are very few girls who are rescued from this kind of molestations. 

Additionally, the smuggler also sells Rohingyas (both female and male) to factories from where is impossible for them to get out of for their whole life.

Smugglers are drawing their trafficking activity especially in States of Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, U.P., Delhi, Kolkata, amongst others.