Trafficked Bangladeshi woman seeks Modi’s help on demonetised notes cache

New Delhi, May 3 (IANS) A Bangladeshi woman, trafficked to India and forced into prostitution, has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modis intervention in exchanging old demonetised notes which she had saved while working in a Maharashtra brothel.

Rescued from a Pune brothel, the woman has claimed that she was unaware about the government's November 8 move to demonetise Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes and has written a letter to Modi urging exchange of Rs 10,000 which she had earned in "desperate conditions".

"Sirji, I have earned this money in desperate conditions. This money is very valuable for me. It will be great favour if you exchange this money," she said in the letter written on her behalf by Rescue Foundation, a Maharashtra NGO which aided her rescue.

"I am going back to Bangladesh on May 15 and it will be great help if you exchange these notes. If you change these notes it will do me great favour and bring me happiness," she said to Modi in the letter which she has signed as 'aapki beti (your daughter)'.

The woman said she worked in a garment factory in Dhaka before being lured to India on the pretext of a high-paying job where she was sold to a woman for Rs 50,000 who forced her into the sex trade.

"I use to hide the money which the customers used to pay me. I had saved Rs 10,000. When I told a madam of Rescue Foundation about the money, she informed me that Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes are no more valid," she said.

About her ordeal, Dipesh Tank, Programme Director Rescue Foundation, said that the woman was unaware about demonetisation.

"She was not aware of demonetisation. She had been saving this money hiding it in her belongings. Afraid that the brothel owners might snatch it away, she never informed anyone. She is now pinning her hopes on the Prime Minister," Tank told IANS.