Nasima Gain's Journey Against Human Trafficking
By Afroz Khan, New Age Islam
28 October 2025
Nasima, a cheerful girl from West Bengal, was trafficked at 13 to a Bihar brothel. Rescued after ten months, she faced social stigma. With NGO support, she founded the Utthan Collective and ILFAT, rehabilitating over 4,500 trafficking survivors, restoring their self-respect, and providing hope, skills, and support.
Main Points:
1. Nasima, trafficked at 13 from West Bengal to Bihar, endured brothel horrors.
2. Rescued after ten months, faced social rejection back home.
3. Found support through an NGO, inspiring her activism.
4. Founded Utthan Collective (2016) and ILFAT (2019) to aid trafficking survivors.
5. ILFAT rehabilitates over 4,500 victims across nine states.
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Nasima was born in Maslandapur, North 24 Parganas district, West Bengal.
She was a cheerful girl with many big dreams. Nasima loved going to school.
As she entered her 13th year, her entire life changed. It was 2009. Recalling the day, she was returning home from school with a friend. She recalls that a man she knew was in a car and met them on the way.
"He asked me and a friend if we would like a ride home in his car. There was another man in the car. Unaware of his intentions, we happily got in. He took us to a secluded spot and left, saying he would return in a while. A little while later, a man arrived in another car and said he would drop us home. It was getting dark, so we agreed, knowing that this ride would change our lives.”
Nasima and her friend were taken from Bengal to Bihar that very night. They travelled by car all night. When they woke up in the morning, they were in a completely unfamiliar place. Nasima only knew Bengali, so she couldn't understand what the people of Bihar were saying. Describing her experience, she says,
"When we woke up, the place seemed completely deserted. We couldn't understand what they were saying. It was so terrifying that words couldn't describe it. My mind couldn't comprehend what was happening. People told us that we would never go back home and that we had been sold.”
Nasima and her friend were sold into a brothel in Bihar. Describing their life there, Nasima says, "They taught us to dance and sing. If anyone disobeyed them, they were beaten, tortured, and starved. We had lost all hope of returning home."
Nasima pleaded with the man who bought her, a Bengali, to take her back home, and the owner simply said, "Pay us the money, then we'll let you go.”
Nasima and her friend were resold as domestic workers to a house in Bihar, where the situation was slightly better.
The man they went to work for was a professor.
Because she only knew Bengali, Nasima couldn't understand the professor's language. While working there, she learnt his language and tried to tell him her story.
"One day, gathering my remaining courage, I tried to tell him how I had been sold and that I wanted to go back home. Just when I thought I would be beaten, the man asked if we had any phone numbers for our parents," says Nasima.
Her friend remembered her father's number. The professor spoke to Nasima and her friend's parents and also informed the police. Before Nasima's family and the police could reach Nasima, the person who had sold her came to know about it and Nasima was sent to another place.
Ten months after being sold, Nasima and her friend were rescued from the clutches of the traffickers and returned home. However, their experience back home was not a good one.
Their parents were happy to meet them, but the people in the neighbourhood looked at them strangely. Describing this bitter experience in her own society, Nasima says,
"This is the sad truth of our society. I was a victim of circumstances, but I was treated like an outcast. Mothers would tell their children not to talk to us, or someone would traffic them too. We weren't allowed to go to school because they refused to take us back. Those ten months of torture haunted me so much that I gave up on myself. I didn't leave my house for the next five years.”
Nasima's parents became concerned about their daughter's loneliness and social isolation and took her to an NGO that counselled survivors of human trafficking and helped them integrate into mainstream society.
While visiting that NGO, Nasima saw that there were many people like her who openly shared their stories. Gradually, Nasima also began to speak openly.
In this NGO, Nasima realised that many people were trapped in the clutches of human trafficking.
She gradually started meeting the victims and in 2016, she started "Utthan Collective" with some victims.
This organisation provides training, counselling, and support to victims like her.
Speaking about this outreach programme, she says,
"There are many victims in the country who are treated like criminals. We wanted to improve this situation by running outreach programmes and getting them out of their homes, just like I did.”
In 2019, Nasima Gain founded the Indian Leadership Forum Against Trafficking (ILFAT) in collaboration with groups working against human trafficking across the country.
This organisation has so far rehabilitated over 4,500 people rescued from the clutches of myeloma of human traffickers. The organisation helps victims recover from trauma and provides them with skills training for their future lives.
In this organisation, such victims try to understand each other's pain by sharing their experiences. Such victims have lost their self-respect in the society, and ILFAT tries to restore that self-respect in them.
ILFAT today works in nine states of the country and has improved the lives of many victims,
Nasima says while talking about it.
"Victims need immense care, love, and respect. They have lost all their self-respect in the process of trafficking and exploitation. Society rejects them, and many are even rejected by their families. We provide them with the necessary support and shelter."
Nasima has dedicated her life to such victims. She is a ray of hope in the lives of many victims like her who have been rejected by society. Nasima has given them hope for a better life. She provides the affection and belonging that such victims need.
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Afroz Khan is a teacher by profession, focusing on writings about women and Islam. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/current-affairs/nasima-journey-human-trafficking/d/137420
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