On Monday, September 13, four Nepalis were rescued from a circus after a raid in the Indian state of Assam. As the rescued Nepalis wait for legal clearance to return home,[break] The Week’s Ujjwala Maharjan, who has been following the rescue operation reports:
SEPTEMBER 12, 2010
“Most of the times, I’m just happy if my team comes back alive after a rescue,” confessed Lt. Col Philip Holmes (retd), founder of the British charity Esther Benjamin Trust (EBT), at the Tribhuvan International airport waiting for his flight to Delhi from where he would fly to Guwahati in Assam, India, “It’s a dangerous job trying to get back kids from the hands of these circus owners, that too from a foreign place.”
The rescue team comprising Shailaja CM, founder director of the NGO Esther Benjamin Memorial Foundation (EBMF), Dawa Reckan Tamang, house manager of EBMF, and Sky Neal, a British volunteer and filmmaker were already in Guwahati, the capital of Assam, preparing for the rescue at the Merapani in Golaghat district – some 350 kilometers away. The plan was to raid New Diamond Circus set up at Merapani and rescue two Nepali minors, one Nepali woman along with her son as well as the Assami kids forced to work there.
Shiva Adhikari, 20, and Maila Haite, 15, accompanied the team in pursuit of finding their kin at the circus. Shiva hadn’t seen his sister for 14 years after she was given away to an agent by their father in hopes of a better future when they were in Makwanpur. Now she was a widow of the circus owner’s brother with three kids from him. And Maila’s brother had been away from their home in Sarlahi for eight months. Both families were driven to take the step due to extreme poverty. Ravi Kumar, a former circus staff, guided the team to the location of the circus, and it was through him that the team had first come to know of the Nepali children working there.
On Holmes’s arrival in Guwahati, Shailaja reported on the rescue arrangements and the disappointment they had to face at the Nepal Embassy in Delhi, where officials refused them a support letter this time. They had all the documents required – the citizenship certificates of the guardians, request letters from Sarlahi and Makwanpur DDCs and the district police, and even a supporting letter they had received from the Embassy during their previous rescue operations. They were kept waiting for two days, citing that the consulate was too busy to see them and had to return without any supporting documents.
The team had been staying at Snehalaya at Dhirenpara Guwahati, a children’s home run by Don Bosco, a missionary for children. Holmes had contacted the local NGOs and child welfare organizations in Assam beforehand and there had been generous support. Father Stephen of Don Bosco in Guwahati had contacted the Home Department of Assam State and M.P. Gupta, DIGP (Deputy Inspector General of Police) of the CID, Ulubari, Guwahati, Assam. With Father Lukose from Snehalaya having confirmed the meeting with the DIGP at 9 am, the team rested for the night for action the next day.
SEPTEMBER 13, 2010
The meeting with DIGP Gupta was quick and he immediately assigned Inspectors Himanshu Das and BN Sharma to escort the team for a seven-hour drive to Golaghat. With all the paperwork in place, the team left at 10:50 am. Meanwhile, Father Lukose had arranged Monmi Sharma, a social worker in Golaghat to be at the local SP’s (Superintendent of Police) office. As soon as the team arrived at SP Madan Chetia’s office in Golaghat at 5:30 pm, and after confirmation of the exact location of the circus, orders were given to the local police at Merapani to be ready for the raid.
It took another 80-minute drive to the Merapani Police Station. The local police were all ready and informed that the circus had postponed their opening date to September 17 due to ongoing festivals. The police then escorted the team to the location.
At 7:30 pm, as the New Diamond Circus loomed in the dark, the police in the frontline dismantled the locks of the gate as the rescue team, along with the guardians, followed them in the dim light of torches. Treading along the muddy ground, the raid party moved swiftly across the deserted circus to the tents where its workers were asleep.
The police spread around looking for the owner, and in a drab tent, Shivani Adhikari, 22, (name changed), Shiva’s sister, woke up to the confusion of torches directed at her face. Her six-year-old son Rohit lay asleep alongside whereas two other girls, Trishna Chaudhari, 16, and Binda Burman, claiming to be 15 (names changed) were huddled up in a corner.
After confirming the names, Shailaja called Shiva to meet his sister and asked Shivani, “Do you recognize him?”
“Who’s he? My brother? Are you crying? God, you’ve grown so big and you’re crying?” Shivani spoke slowly, her eyes on her brother seated beside her. “What’s happening? What are you doing here with so many people?”
Shiva said, “We’re here to take you back.”
Then there followed the anticlimax. “I won’t go home. Who’ll feed me and my children there? This has been my home for 14 years. I can’t go back,” Shivani retorted.
Meanwhile, Mithun Chaudhari, the owner, was arrested for keeping trafficked children and bonded labor, but he did not resist. The team then found Maila’s brother Uttam Haite, 9, a dwarf, and Abin Biswokarma, 15 (names changed).
Nine persons – including the two Nepali boys, Shivani and her son, Trishna, Binda and three other Assami circus workers – Akash Saikia, 22, Ratan Rajbonshi, (mentally unstable, dwarf, age NA) and Devanand Chaudhari were taken back to the Merapani police station.
At the station, a huge crowd of police officers and curious locals gathered as enquiries started. As Mithun pleaded innocence and admitted keeping minors as laborers but of their own will, the boys, Abin and Akash, testified against him, claiming they weren’t given their wages in time & were being frequently beaten & mistreated.
“I was tied to a pole and beaten by three people when I asked Mithun for my money a month ago. You can still see the marks,” said Akash, showing long scars in both his hands. Shivani and Tulsi, on the other hand, tried to justify that it was not Mithun’s fault and that he could not pay because the circus wasn’t working too well, and the beating was only a natural process of learning.
“It’s common to see these cases when the victims sympathize with the perpetrators because they’ve been with them for so long. It’s called Stockholm Syndrome – they forget the beatings but remember they were provided with food and shelter – and that’s enough for them to feel loved,” said Atungo Shriti, Honorary Secretary of Justice and Peace Department present at the chaotic scene on behalf of the Council of the Baptist Churches in Northeast India.
After further enquiries and a general physical checkup for any bruises on their bodies, Akash and Devanand, both above 18, were sent back to the circus. The rest of the rescued – two girls, four boys and Shivani – were then driven back to Guwahati with the team from the raided scene through the night.
SEPTEMBER 14, 2010
For the rescue team, this raid has been different. “We had expected things to be much more difficult than it turned out to be. Usually, there’re threats, intimidation and resistance. But this group was demoralized, living in an appalling location, almost like a swamp,” said Holmes.
“But the rescue is also a great success in that the owner is most likely to be jailed, and the rescued people now have their freedom and a future. The icing on the cake would be to track down the trafficking agent with the help of the rescued woman once we’re back in Kathmandu.”
Tired from the travel, the team and the children rested while Holmes left for Delhi, handing the litigation process that would follow over to Shailaja. On what would be arranged for the rescued group, Holmes said, “As a general guideline, we always try and get the children back to their families – if it’s safe to do so. If the situation at their home isn’t too good, they are taken under our refuge in our Godawari home.”
For the Assami kids, he informed they had to abide by the Juvenile Justice Act of India and that they would probably be placed in different homes by the Child Welfare Committee.
The EBT team has also been planning to take back the two other children of Shivani – Karan and Arjun Chaudhari – from her mother-in-law living in Alipur, West Bengal.
While Shailaja has already built a bond with the rescued group on the drive back, she reported how the children were still in a shock from the intervention, but also happy to be free.
According to her, the circus was previously called Rosila Circus from where the team had earlier rescued five children in 2006. One of the rescued girls in 2006 was Sabitri (name changed) who had reported against the current owner, Mithun, for having sexually abused her.
“At first, it’s natural not to want to leave the circus. But once they know what freedom is, they start to open up. So they need time,” said Shailaja who has been in some 36 rescues till date.
SEPTEMBER 15-16, 2010
As the case registered by Shailaja with the CID of Guwahati against Mithun proceeds at the local court, she has also been given the custody of the children. With generous support from Father Lukose at Snehalaya, the rescued group has comfortably settled at the shelter.
Uttam, popularly known as “Chhotu”, said as he was being filmed by Sky, “I’m happy to go home.” He played with Rohit and told the British filmmaker, “I was beaten and I didn’t like it there.”
Shivani, who had sided with owner Mithun and accused Ravi, the former circus staff, of betraying the owner, also seemed to soften up today. “I want to go back home, but who will take care of my mother-in-law if Mithun is jailed for a long time?”
Ratan, who seemed mentally disabled worked as a clown, was very upset that he had left all his bags at the circus. But he was all smiles when provided with a new set of clothes. He also had a swollen belly and legs, and the scars on his body looked as if he had been neglected for a long time.
After a brief talk with Father Lukose, he revealed, “I wasn’t properly treated and they didn’t give me any medication for it (pointing at the injuries on his feet). They told me my money was being sent to my family but I never got it in my hands. I don’t know.”
Adding to what he was made to do in the circus, Ratan said, “People shit around the circus, and I was made to collect all of it and clean around as well.”
As for Brinda, her joy is apparent as she smiled at her newfound freedom. Though she earlier mentioned that she joined the circus out of her own will, she had been moving from one circus to another after being mistreated.
“I was given Rs 500 at the previous circus. But they treated me really badly. So I went to New Diamond where they pay me 1,000 Rupees per month.”
The girls have also gone through medical examination at the Forensic Department of Guwahati Medical Hospital to check if they have been victims of any sexual abuse. None of them have reported any kind of sexual abuse in their oral statements, but the reports are still to come.
The Child Welfare Committee (CWC) of Assam State has decided to place the Assami children at the Don Bosco homes after their stay at Snehalaya. The Nepali children will be taken back to Nepal after they receive court orders and legal permissions to do so.
And what they await the most is the joy of going back home.
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