Aruna was lured to India with the promise of a better paying job. In a troubled situation Aruna was in Bangladesh, and she agreed to a job here in India. But to her utter horror, she was sold to a brothel in India for Rs. 50,000.
For a year and a half Aruna was forcefully made to work at the brothel, she saved up the tips from her customers and hid it. Aruna was under the impression that once she found her way back to Bangladesh, she would be able to exchange the money and use it to support her livelihood.
After being rescued from the brothel in Pune, Aruna learned that the 500 and 1000 rupees notes had been banned. She has collected a total of Rs. 10,000. Aruna asked the organization that saved her for their help and she wrote a letter to PM Narendra Modi in a plea to allow her to exchange the money for legal notes.
In her note, she said, “I used to hide this money from the brothel keeper in my pants pocket as I wanted to take it home. I earned this money through much suffering. This money is precious. Please help me exchange it.”
Aruna was a garment worker in Bangladesh and after being fooled into coming to India, she first worked in a brothel in Bangalore and then was sold again to another in Pune.
She was rescued a day after arriving in Pune in December 2015. Now, in March, Bangladesh issued her a permit to travel back home.
Aruna is among 19 trafficking survivors, they will board a train to Pune on May 15th and a police bus will take them across the border to Bangladesh.
Tanuja Pawar, Assistant Superintendent of the Rescue Foundation Shelter in Pune said, “The money would lend some legitimacy to her absence from home. She will be able to tell her family she was working in India.”
The Thomson Reuters Foundation was told that the rescued women’s cash was exchanged but later Aruna told Pawar of the money she had in her trunk.
Prime Minister Modi is yet to respond to the letter but since the news got out a number of people have come forward to give Aruna money to take back home.
