19-year-old Fatima left her home in Myanmar’s at Rakhine province with the hope of a much better life. However, once she reached to India, she was sold by an associate agent to a person of her father’s age.
Last year’s violence in Rakhine province of Myanmar 6.6 million individuals fled to neighbour’s country, whereas forty thousands of Rohingya Muslims had illegally crossed Indian border also.
The central government of India has called Rohingya Muslims a threat to the internal security of the country. The Government of India cautions security and wants to send them back to Myanmar. At present, the matter is within the Supreme Court.
Fatima’s husband left her last month after exploiting her. At that time she was about to become the mother of his child. Fatima says, “His age would be no less than my father’s age, he beats me with electric wires and did not let me go outside, he used to say that I bought you in ₹20,000.”
Fatima, now 20, says, “In my hometown, there was no food to eat at home then my mother thought that if I go to my father in India then it will be a good decision for my future. But one of my relatives in the camp sold me to an agent”.
Now, Fatima lives in a hut made of tin and plastic sheets in Rohingya camp at Mewat near Delhi with her daughter. She is in touch with her mother in Myanmar. She says, “I work in homes as a servant and earn ₹1200 a month, but if I go back to my mother, who will feed my daughter?”
The cases of the bonded labour of Rohingya people or pushes them into prostitution has been increased. Last years, many girls were sold to India through smuggling, they were sold as sex slaves.
According to Fatima, “There is no room for us to live here. Earlier I had a roof over our head and my husband used to provide food too.” She added “the Indian citizens can demand compensation, land, and housing from the government. But I cannot do that either there’s an opportunity for legal action on myself for entering to India crossing the border illegally. More people come every other month, there is a land to build camps, but there is no arrangement for bamboos and plastics to build a hut.”
The situation is dire, and we as a society need to find ways to help them get their normal lives back.