Abducted at 7, Mumbai police join bar dancer's quest to locate parents

At the age of seven she was abducted from her home and in the years since moved to New Delhi Mumbai and Dubai only to be forced into a life of child labour and subsequently commercial sex work At 24 this bar dancer might finally get the chance to be reunited with her family thanks to the police and judiciary who have been helping her look for her parents for over three yearsNarrating her rollercoaster of a life to the police the bar dancer recounted how her ordeal began when she was abducted from her village I must have been around seven years old when a person named Radhe abducted me from my home He took me to Goyla village in New Delhi where I was introduced to one Rubi Thakur I was then handed over to a group including Rubi who brought me to MumbaiAlso ReadReal 13yearchallenge Bar dancers on how life has changed since 2005The woman was forced to work at over 11 dance bars in Mumbai Representational ImageWorked as a maidIn Mumbai I was forced to work as a maid in Rubis house I lived with nine other girls who worked at dance bars and Rubis daughter who is an MBA now Back then every time I saw her leaving for school I felt like going too I expressed my desire to Rubi but as soon as she heard it she beat me up brutally and asked me to focus on household chores instead I tried requesting a couple of more times but she responded in a similar way One day I gave up trying to persuade herShe further alleged After almost five years of torment while working as a maid as I turned 14 Rubi the girls and I shifted to a flat in Lokhandwala There I was asked to learn dancing even though I was never interested in itI protested but there was no end to the thrashing One day in 2005 I was asked to wear clean clothes and do makeup Rubi then took me to a dance bar in Santacruz This was the first dance bar Id ever seen The loud music disturbed me and made me very uncomfortableWhen I refused to go to the bar the next day Rubi beat me up and refused to give me food Following that was forced to learn dancing and speaking to customers inside the bar Id realised there was no way out so I began working without any complaints Once I got used to the atmosphere I was shifted to a bar in Vile Parle where I worked for almost eight months she addedAnother shocker soon came her way One day Rubi asked me to get ready to go with a customer for the night I refused but she threatened me and I was forced to go When I reached the hotel room with the customer I told him I do not want to get physical with him and requested him to drop me home He got angry and called up Rubi demanding his money back He handed over the phone to me and I was threatened of dire consequences if I failed to entertain him she said Thus began the chain of sending her from one such customer to another I worked in over 11 dance bars in Mumbai she saidAlso ReadMan gets sevenyear rigorous imprisonment for abetting bar dancers suicideForged documentsIn 2009 she took the woman to Agra forged documents to show her as the womans mother and packed her off to Dubai for some time Rubi sent her again in 2011 When I came back to Mumbai said the woman I began working at a dance bar in Malad where I befriended a man against Rubis wishes I narrated my ordeal to him after which he got ready to help me In November 2014 I ran away from Rubis house I was not the first to escape two more girls had left before meOn September 13 2016 she finally approached cops and filed an FIR against Rubi for forcing her into prostitution The very next day they arrested four people in the caseCops also went to Agra to find out the truth behind the forged documents which were eventually confirmed to be fake and also did a DNA test of at least 14 people to identify the womans relatives but none of the samples matchedThe case also moved court and on April 6 2018 the court directed cops to find her family Sections from POCSO Act have also been added to the FIR Cops then went to Agra and Delhi to look for her parents but returned emptyhanded They also contacted CID and checked over 1000 records of missing persons but nothing came of itCops also went all the way to Nagpur after the woman shared a memory she had with her father but found nothing there either In February this year the case was transferred to Mumbai crime branchs crimes against women cell Currently the investigation into the case is being monitored by a police officer of the additional director general rankAlso ReadDont stack your notes yet Maharashtra state in no mood to danceCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates