A mission to prevent trafficking in women and children from tea gardens

Every Sunday, the only day plantation workers have off work, Sukla Debnath (centre, back row) visits tea gardens in West Bengal to offer beauty training. Photo: Sukla Debnath

PRASHANT ACHARYA, EOI, SILIGURI, 2 AUGUST 2023 : Sukla Debnath, a 36-year-old resident of New Hasimara of Alipurduar, is teaching karate local girls as a technique of self-defence to stop trafficking in women and children, which is a problem in the neighborhood. She is also conducting courses for beauticians to make women self-reliant. 

After graduating from secondary school, she had learned karate. In the beginning, everyone had made fun of Sukla's work. But she has been persistent in her goal of preventing the trafficking of many women and children. 

She is a post-graduate in education and is a trained beautician. Born in a middle-class family in new Hasimara, surrounded by tea estates, during her school days she had been seeing many girls disappearing, Sukla says. 

“I have seen countless women and children being trafficked because of poverty. At that time, I had a resolution. So I came forward. In the beginning, the family was not supportive. But today it is nice to think that I was able to stand by hem to some extent. This is the ultimate achievement of my life.” 

While trying to stop the trafficking of women, she had fallen into the clutches of the traffickers many times. Surviving with the help of the police, Shukla continues to convince illiterate parents. She has also been able to convince girls residing in tea garden that alternative ways of income is possible from the tea plantations." 

There are 83 tea gardens in my area, and most of those employed there are poor and uneducated. It is an established practice for families here to send their children, including girls, to cities like Delhi and Mumbai to work there in the hope that they can earn better. But most of them become victims of sex trafficking human trafficking," says Sukla Debnath. 

Over the years, Sukla has trained more than 5,000 as beauticians, who can now earn a decent income.