Radhika's Story

A CHILLING, FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT

BY A SURVIVOR OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING, RADHIKA'S STORY IS ALSO AN INCREDIBLE TESTAMENT TO THE POWER OF A MOTHER'S LOVE …

EVEN WHEN THE ODDS ARE STACKED DANGEROUSLY AGAINST HER. A seemingly innocent sip of Coca-Cola, drunk by a starving and desperately thirsty 14-year-old girl led to the first of Radhika Phuyal’s human trafficking experiences. Drugged, Radhika woke up hours later, in great pain, only to discover that her kidney had been removed and sold to the highest bidder. Radhika was married by force but tried to make the best of her situation and when her beloved son Rohan was born she thought all her dreams had come true. But Rohan’s birth signified the next horrific episode in Radhika’s life – she was trafficked again.

Living in India, separated from her son and forced to have sex with more than 20 men a day, Radhika refused to accept her lot. Desperate to be reunited with her child, she fought against the odds, finding the strength to escape her horrific life and rescue her son, changing their lives forever.

Sharon Hendry is a senior feature writer at the British newspaper The Sun. In her work she has exposed international adoption rackets and tracked paedophiles in Cambodia.

TRUE CRIME £8.99 I SBN 978- 1- 84773- 725- 0

Cover photography © Manish Koirala

www.newhollandpublishers.com

Cover design by Madeline Meckiffe

SHARON HENDRY

RADHIKA’S STORY SURVIVING HUMAN TRAFFICKING

RADHIKA’S STORY SURVIVING HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Foreword by Joanna Lumley Preface Radhika is introduced to the reader, sitting on a train, embarking with her new employers on a journey, destination unknown, to a new life.

1. The road to somewhere: After her high-caste but poor family face financial ruin, Radhika is forced to leave her home in a rural suburb of Kathmandu for the city, where she just about gets by selling vegetables by the roadside. An alluring young man promises her a new life working for a merchant family in the city. Radhika finds the family captivating and soon finds herself agreeing to go on holiday with them to somewhere in India. On the train, she is offered a Coca-Cola and after taking a sip, falls into a deep sleep…

2. A terrible awakening Radhika awakes, disorientated and in pain, in a hospital bed in Chennai, India. To her horror she discovers her kidney has been removed without her permission and given to her female employer. She is alone, in a strange land, where she doesn’t speak the language, away from her family. After several nightmare months in hospital, she is handed the equivalent of £1,500 and taken back to Kathmandu by one of the human traffickers.

3. Marrying the mafia Back in Kathmandu, Radhika is forced into marriage with a member of the trafficking gang, Rajesh Kumar, a lower-caste man, who takes the £1,500 in lieu of a dowry. After returning with Rajesh to his home province of Sindhupalchowk, he emerges as a violent drunk who regularly beats Radhika to a pulp.

Life only becomes better when Radhika’s dream comes true: she realizes that she is pregnant.

Finally, she has someone to love of her own.

4. A bright star is born Rohan (‘bright star’) is born. Radhika’s sister, Parvati, makes a surprise visit and is horrified at what she finds; she is particularly shocked to find that Rajesh is of a lower caste. A few months later, two strangers arrive at Radhika’s, claiming to be friends of Rajesh’s.

They promise to take mother and son to Kathmandu to visit Parvati. Once in the city, however, Radhika quickly realizes that things aren’t what they seem.

She is forced to travel to Biratnagar, on the Indian border. Radhika, yet again, is travelling to an unknown destination, but this time her son is with her.

5. Welcome to Assam In Silchar, Assam, Radhika realizes quickly that she has been trafficked again. She and Rohan are taken to a brothel, where she is groomed for six months, while the madame finds her a job.

6. Dhanda must begin Radhika is forced to prepare for ‘Dhanda’ (prostitution). Rohan is taken away from her to live with the other children of sex slaves. Radhika meets her first client but manages to escape him. In the days that follow, she is forced to have sex with up to 30 men a day though. She longs for Rohan, but it is nine months before they are reunited again, this time when Radhika is taken to another brothel in Calcutta’s infamous Sonagachi district.

7. Sonagachi song Radhika’s life in the hellish Sonagachi slum area is a nightmare. Rohan is taken away once more and they are only reunited for 15 minutes every few months.

She begins to notice a change in him and when she spots cigarette burns in his mouth, she vows to find a way out of this life.

8. Jigmi One of her customers, 21-year-old office worker, Jigmi, professes his love for Radhika. He vows to help her escape and for a week they manage to live in his apartment while they plot to rescue Rohan.

Their dream life ends when the brothel owner and the police track Radhika down. She is beaten with an iron rod and starved of food and water, before resuming her previous life. She never finds out what happens to Jigmi.

9. Bollywood dreams After a year in Calcutta, Radhika and Rohan are moved to New Delhi. Rohan is now mute and all Radhika can think of is how to rescue her son, but they are only reuninited three times in the next six months. In a bid to transport herself away from the dreadful reality of her everyday life, she fantisizes about living the lives of the Bollywood stars whose images line her walls. A slight respite comes when Radhika and Rohan are moved again, this time to a brothel in Pune. Here, Radhika is allowed to keep Rohan with her. The other prostitutes look after him while she entertains clients and he spends his nights with his mother.

Radhika schemes to get a better life for her son.

Radhika and her son, Roh an © Manish Koraila

SHARON HENDRY

10. A great escape In Pune, Radhika meets and joins up with three Nepalese sex slaves who are plotting their esacpe. At the dead of night, with Rohan strapped to Radhika’s back, the group steal past the brothel guards to flee into the darkness. At the train station, Radhika boards her train to Gorakhpur first, only to see the guards arrive as it departs. She never learns what happens to her friends.

11. The redemption On the train, the physical and mental trials that Radhika has been through finally catch up with her.

She collapses and is forced to leave the train to go to hospital after having suffered a miscarriage and contracting typhoid. At the border, too weak to stand, Radhika is helped by a handsome stranger named Sumit, who offers to take her home. He accompanies them all the way from Gorakhpur Publication: Price: Format: Extent: Words: Illustrations: Binding: ISBN:

October 2010 £8.99 222 x 143mm 224 pages c.60,000 1 x 8 colour page Paperback 978 1 84773 725 0

to the Sunali border by jeep and then on a 10-hour bus journey to Kathmandu. Once there, he returns Radhika and Rohan to her family home. Sumit stays one night before disappearing.

12. Coming home Although Radhika’s family is horrified by what she had endured, her 102-year-old grandmother is even more shocked by her marriage to a member of a lower caste and will not allow her to step foot in the family home. Parvati, Radhika’s sister, takes her sister and nephew to Maiti Nepal, a refuge specially set up for victims of human trafficking. Here, Radhika and Rohan begin the long process of rehabilitation from their trauma. At last, they have found a place that they can truly call home.

Press and media coverage: major publicity campaign to include serialization in national newspapers, features, extracts and reviews in women’s and human interest magazines.