This is not how Nishi (name changed to protect identity) had envisaged her pregnancy would go. The 19-year-old woman from Manipur, who is four months pregnant, was arrested under flesh trade charge in March from a massage parlour in Borivli only on the second day of her job and sent to a women’s shelter.

For nearly two months now, her family has been struggling to get her out of the shelter. It claims that Nishi is no sex worker.