Chhattisgarh Woman Found in Jammu Kashmir, Allegedly Held as Bonded Labour | Kashmir Life

SRINAGAR: Police in Chhattisgarh have set up a special team to investigate how a woman from Rajnandgaon district, missing for nearly six months, reached Jammu and Kashmir, where she is allegedly being forced to work as bonded labour, The New Indian Express reported.

The case emerged after Usha Sahu, a married woman with two children from Chichola village under Dongargarh police station, managed to contact her parents from Srinagar and pleaded to be taken back home. Her family had earlier filed a missing person complaint after she disappeared about six months ago.

In a fresh complaint to the Rajnandgaon district police chief, Usha’s parents alleged that she was taken away by an unidentified youth from Bisahu Tola, a hamlet in their village. Her father, Charan Sahu, provided police with the mobile number from which the call was received, saying his daughter told him she was somewhere in Jammu and Kashmir.

According to the family, as quoted by The New Indian Express, when they called back the same number, the person who answered claimed that Usha had been “paid for” in advance to work at his home in Jammu and Kashmir for a year and that she could not leave as six months of the agreed period were still remaining.

Charan Sahu said his daughter broke down during a video call from Srinagar, crying and repeatedly requesting that she be brought back to Chhattisgarh.

Rajnandgaon Superintendent of Police Ankita Sharma said, as reported by The New Indian Express, that preliminary inquiry suggested Usha may have gone to Jammu and Kashmir with a youth, believed to be her lover. “It appears he took an advance payment from a local resident there under an arrangement for domestic work and later abandoned her,” the SP added.

Police officials said many workers from Chhattisgarh travel to Jammu and Kashmir each year for employment, often accepting advance payments covering six to seven months, with a commitment to continue working for the agreed period.

“The matter came to our notice after the woman made the phone call. We are obtaining call detail records and the location of the mobile number from which the call was received,” Sharma said, adding that a two-member police team has been constituted and will travel to Jammu and Kashmir with Usha’s parents to trace her and ensure her safe return.

Meanwhile, the district police chief clarified that, at this stage, the case does not appear to involve organised human trafficking.