Experts estimate millions of women and children are victims of sex trafficking in India. Traffickers use false promises of employment or arrange sham marriages in India or Gulf States and subject women and girls to sex trafficking. In addition to traditional red light districts, women and children increasingly endure sex trafficking in small hotels, vehicles, huts, and private residences. Traffickers increasingly use websites, mobile applications, and online money transfers to facilitate commercial sex. Children continue to be subjected to sex trafficking in religious pilgrimage centers and by foreign travelers in tourist destinations. Many women and girls, predominately from Nepal and Bangladesh, and from Europe, Central Asia, Africa, and Asia, including minority populations from Burma, are subjected to sex trafficking in India.
Archana, 25, was sold into an underage sex ring in India.
I was only 14 when I was drugged and sold into a child sex ring. After I was rescued, I wanted justice. The trial went on for years. I was on the stand every day for seven months. They had 20 lawyers trying their best to make it seem like I lied. Midway through the trial, I was kidnapped by some of my attackers. I was rescued and continued with the court case. In the end all 20 were convicted and some of the men got two life sentences for what they had done to me.
As told to The Guardian
