Activist accused of slapping rescued trafficking victim

RANCHI: A 14-year-old rescued victim of trafficking has accused an activist of assaulting her in Ranchi because she had left the house without taking permission.

This incident of a saviour allegedly turning an oppressor comes to light in the city hardly a fortnight after a tribal girl alleged that she was tortured by a CID policeman in Ranchi.

In her statement to the Ranchi Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Sarita (name changed) said she was slapped by Sita Swansi, the director of Diya Seva Sansthan, an NGO that claims to have rescued over 500 trafficked Jharkhand girls from different parts of the country in the past couple of years.

Sarita was trafficked to New Delhi at the age of five and was kept at a brothel, said Ranchi CWC member Meera Mishra. She had been staying with Swansi since her rescue in 2012.

“In her defence, Swansi has said the minor was given to her for foster care. However, there are no such records with the CWC. We should have it in our record if any rescued girl is sent for foster care,” said Mishra.

Swansi, however, cried conspiracy. “I have kept her like my daughter for the past six years, sent her to a private school and never ill-treated her. She has been instigated to lodge a complaint against me by Baijnath (Kumar), who was fired from the organisation recently,” Swansi said.

Baijnath, former secretary of Diya Seva Sansthan, pleaded innocence.

“The minor has accused Swansi of assaulting her. Why would she lie? And if Sita actually treated her like a daughter, how do you expect a 14-year-old to turn her back on her mother?” asked Baijnath.

Sarita was found by the Railway Childline at the Ranchi railway station on Saturday night. She was produced to the CWC on Sunday morning.

While the girl has been sent to Premashraya, a government-run shelter home in Ranchi, the CWC is investigating how the minor was sent for foster care without any mention in the records.

A first information report is yet to be lodged in the case since the CWC wants to check the circumstances under which Swansi scolded the minor.

“We will decide whether to lodge an FIR or not after properly counselling the girl on Monday,” said Mishra.

“As of now, the girl doesn’t want to stay with Swansi,” she said.

THE ACTIVIST DENIED ILL-TREATING THE MINOR AND SAID THE GIRL WAS INSTIGATED TO LODGE A COMPLAINT BY A FORMER MEMBER OF HER NGO