Titilagarh: A seven-year-long ordeal of poverty, migration and alleged human trafficking ended with the rescue and return of a woman from Dubai to her native village in Balangir district, exposing the vulnerabilities faced by migrant workers from economically distressed regions.
The woman, a resident of the Titilagarh area, had left her two young daughters in the care of her parents and travelled to Mumbai with her husband several years ago in search of work, hoping to improve the family’s financial condition. The woman said initially they worked in Mumbai before her husband allegedly sold her to another man in Dubai.
The woman alleged that after the incident, the husband returned to his village, remarried and began living there, while she remained trapped overseas. The family learnt about her fate much later after she sent a video clip to her sister, leaving them devastated.
The woman’s relatives lodged an FIR at Titilagarh police station after learning about the alleged trafficking. However, with little progress in the investigation, they approached social worker Ranju Raiman for assistance.
After prolonged efforts failed to locate the woman, the family and the social worker approached the Sub Collector seeking intervention and filed a police complaint again. The administration initiated the necessary process that eventually led to the woman’s rescue from Dubai and her safe return to Odisha.
Addressing a press conference on Saturday, Raiman described the case as a stark reminder of the risks faced by poor migrant labourers who leave their homes in search of livelihoods. She alleged that several women from the Titilagarh region have fallen victim to similar exploitation, with some being trafficked or forced into bonded labour after migrating for work and never returning home.
Calling for stronger action, she urged the administration to treat such cases with greater urgency, strengthen safeguards for vulnerable migrant workers and ensure justice for women who become victims of trafficking and exploitation.
The case has once again drawn attention to the human cost of distress migration from economically backward regions, where poverty and the absence of stable employment often compel families to seek work far from home, leaving them vulnerable to trafficking networks and labour exploitation.
