Sita’s story is not graphic. But it involves a degree of cruelty and hardship that some may find distressing or triggering. 

Lean and wiry, 35-year-old Sita* Bhoi shudders as she tries to recount her days of horror at the brick kiln where she was exploited. 

Her struggles began when she was just 15 years old, when both of her parents died of a sudden disease. They lived in an indigenous tribal community with few options for their livelihood or for Sita’s future. Soon, relatives married her off to a man named Chabbi, who was a small-time farmer in a neighbouring village.

A few years after their abrupt wedding, Chabbi decided to take a lump sum cash advance of 30,000 rupees from a labour agent in order to meet the expenses of his ailing mother. He made the decision completely without his young wife.  

“He simply asked me to pack our bags and said that we were leaving in two weeks to work at a brick kiln because there was no work available at our village,” she remembers matter-of-factly. “I had no idea where we were going. I was not aware of the advance either.”

As is often the case for families like theirs, the generous payment advance was a lure to trap them in debt bondage. Around 2009 or 2010, the couple was trafficked to a brick kiln where they were made to work unending days without a break for the next year and a half.  

Nothing was as they were promised: The conditions were inhumane, forcing them to live in a tiny brick shack with a tarpaulin roof and mud floors where they slept. There was never enough food or water, and there were no toilets. When labourers at the kiln asked for wages, they were abused and threatened with dire consequences.  Sita recalls:

“There was no rest. We hardly slept for four hours a day and were forced to work with minimal food and rest. We were not allowed to move out of the facility, and they did not pay us wages except for 400 rupees per week. There were no off days even if we fell sick.” 

When Chabbi learned that his mother’s condition had gotten worse, he asked the owner’s permission to visit her, but the man coldly refused and demanded Chabbi repay the full advance—plus interest—before leaving. Chabbi thought he could gather up some money back at home to repay the owner, so he snuck away one night and left Sita alone at the kiln. 

The kiln owner was infuriated by his escape—and he took his rage out on Sita.

She remembers, “That day, the owner and his friend were in an inebriated state. They came to me and started verbally abusing my husband saying he has escaped and that they will never get their money back. Then they forcibly dragged me outside the kiln to a deserted place.” 

“They kept yelling at me about Chabbi and that they would not spare him. They swore to take revenge and began sexually assaulting me,” she describes, her voice shivering.

“I was very weak as compared to their strength. When I tried to stop their advances, they beat me and raped me. I think I fainted many times…They left and returned again and again to rape me.” 

After this terrifying night, Sita was locked in her small shanty for nearly a week—traumatised and badly injured. She could not cook or eat. She was unwell but they refused to take her to the hospital. She started to believe she might die at the kiln. She remembers, “They sent men who kept asking me to resume work, but I could not. I had no strength.” 

In secret, Sita gathered all her energy and used a mobile phone left behind by her husband to call him and inform him about the incident. Chabbi assured her that he was bringing help—but Sita could only wait in pain.  

“I believed the owner when they told me that Chabbi would never return,” she admits.

“They told me that I was going to be their slave my entire life.” 

When Chabbi contacted IJM, our staff worked with the police and local authorities to coordinate a rescue operation that same day. On 3 March 2011, the kiln owner and his accomplices were arrested and charged for bonded labour, confinement and rape.  

Sita was brought to safety at last and provided with medical care and crisis counselling. She and Chabbi eagerly left to return home. 

IJM staff helped the couple resettle and start building a plan for their recovery. But almost immediately, Sita felt a painful distance from her husband. 

“After the rescue, Chabbi did not ever ask me about the incident or let me talk about it,” she remembers painfully. “Once we were at home, his behaviour changed. He stopped interacting with me…he disowned me.” 

Just a few months after their rescue, Chabbi left for work and never returned. That’s when Sita heard from her neighbours that he had eloped with another woman.  

Abandoned and ashamed once again, she recalls

“Those were the worst days of my life.”