Over six years after her daughter, then a minor, went missing and was allegedly trafficked across states, an Adivasi woman from Jharkhand’s Simdega district is hopeful of reuniting with the girl amid efforts by an activist coordinating with police and Labour department officials to rescue and bring her back home.
The mother told The Indian Express that she worked intermittently in Mumbai as a cook and domestic help, and that during this period, her daughter had been staying in a hostel back in Jharkhand. She said she had left her marital home years earlier due to domestic violence.
According to the mother, it was sometime in 2019 — she is unable to recall the date or month — that she learnt of her daughter’s disappearance from the hostel.
“A non-tribal man allegedly lured my minor daughter in the name of love and took her to Delhi on the pretext of arranging work. There, he trafficked her to another person, after which she was again trafficked to Rajasthan. She later told me she had been sold for Rs 3 lakh,” the mother claimed.
After learning of the disappearance, however, the mother did not approach police. Activist Agustina Soreng, who is now coordinating rescue efforts, explained that many tribal families often do not report such incidents immediately due to fear, social stigma and lack of access to institutional support.
For years since the disappearance, there was no contact between the mother and daughter. However, the mother spent that time searching for her through relatives, community networks and social media groups. Finally, in November last year, the daughter managed to get her mother’s number through social media and made contact — secretly, without the knowledge of her captors.
“She is my only daughter. I kept searching everywhere. I re-established contact with her only in November last year,” the mother said.
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Since then, they have been in contact whenever the daughter managed to make secret phone calls to the mother. The daughter is now an adult and a mother herself.
According to the mother, the survivor told her she had been subjected to repeated physical violence, including rape, while being confined in Rajasthan. The mother said that her daughter was threatened against contacting her family or returning to Jharkhand.
“She kept saying they would kill her if she tried to leave or contact us… She faced severe physical assault on her body. She already has a six-month-old child and is over a month pregnant again,” the mother said.
According to her, the man who holds her daughter captive in Rajasthan runs a small hotel business and allegedly forced the survivor to do domestic work while confining her there. The mother further claimed that her daughter told her another woman had earlier also been kept in similar circumstances by the same man.
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“I appeal to everyone, including authorities, to ensure my daughter’s safe rescue and immediate medical treatment,” the mother said.
Activist Agustina Soreng said the case highlights continuing failures in addressing trafficking in tribal regions of Jharkhand. She said the survivor belongs to a remote interior area of Simdega district, a region long identified as vulnerable to trafficking.
“Awareness and intervention mechanisms are still not reaching these villages at the grassroots level. There is a major administrative gap,” she said.
Soreng said she has been coordinating with labour rights networks and helplines, including activists working in Rajasthan and Ahmedabad, to trace and rescue the survivor.
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She said the case also exposed the absence of a coordinated long-term anti-trafficking strategy in tribal areas. “There has to be work involving tribal leadership. Political will is missing somewhere. Unless investment is made in grassroots systems and support networks, vulnerable Adivasi women and girls will continue to fall through the cracks,” she said.
Labour department officials said they were coordinating with officials in Rajasthan, and that the district police were being informed.
