Woman gets death threats for fighting traffickers

The brave 30-year-old woman, Ms Fatima Khatoon, who fought and rescued many young girls from various red light areas of Bihar, now wants security for herself and her six young kids. She’s been getting regular threat calls on her mobile phone by some unidentified person who she thinks has been tracking her movement.

Ms Khatoon, who lives with her six children in Forbesganj, had lodged a complaint with the local police seeking protection for herself and her young children but she says the police did not take any concrete steps against those who harassed her on phone.

“A person has been calling and threatening to kill me, I am scared now not for myself but for my young kids as they are totally dependent on me. I live alone with them, I only want the police to provide us protection but till now what I have received from them is only assurance,” Ms Khatoon, a social worker told this newspaper from Forbesganj on Wednesday.

According to Ms Khatoon, she has been fighting human traffickers since her childhood. She said her parents got her married to a 40-year-old brothel owner when she was just nine years old. She recalls that she had started by forming a group when she was still very young as she found girls were being forced into sex trade.

“My journey began from my own husband’s house, I was just 12 years old when I helped four women escape from the brothel which was being run by my husband and my mother-in-law and I have never looked back since then but now I have small kids and I want the police to cooperate with me in my work,” she said.