Runa with her child on her lap at her village home Dhaka Tribune

Last Sunday - three days after giving birth to a daughter - Runa told her harrowing story to the Dhaka Tribune

Runa, the teenage daughter of a rickshaw-puller, was living a life of poverty with the four other members of her family at her maternal grandmother's house in Singair, Manikganj.

With her father barely able to manage the household with his modest earnings, Runa travelled to Jordan in late 2016 in the hope of bringing a semblance of affluence to her family.

Almost two years later, however, Runa has become an outcast in her own society after returning to Bangladesh pregnant with the child of any one of a number of unknown men who paid to have sex with her.

Last Sunday - three days after giving birth to a daughter - Runa told her harrowing story to the Dhaka Tribune.

A dream which became a nightmare

Runa had only recently turned 15 when manpower recruiting agent Abul Kashem, from neighbouring village Bhakum in Jaymantap union, offered her family a route out of extreme poverty.

With a payment of only Tk10,000, Kashem made a deal with Runa's family to send her to Jordan, where he promised her work as a maid in a household.

Abul would fake her age as 25 in her passport while changing her single status to “married” in the medical report she would need to work overseas.

With Runa’s family meeting the arrangement fee through a loan from a local NGO, Runa was flown to Jordan on October 13, 2016.

Little did Runa know, however, that her dreams of helping her family would be shattered and a new life full of nightmares would start the moment she landed in the strange new country.

Forced into prostitution

Once Runa reached Jordan, she was not allowed to talk with any of her family members.

In the first household where she was taken, she was sexually abused every night by the owner.

A few months later, Runa was sold to a woman named Sonia, who, by an unfortunate coincidence, came from Char Chamta village of Chandhur union in her own upazila of Singair.

Sonia had gained considerable local influence after staying in Jordan for almost 16 years. She had turned her house in Dammam city of Jordan into a brothel, in which a group of 20-30 Bangladeshi women were confined against their will.

Runa told this correspondent that every night, she had to meet the demands of different men. If she resisted, she would be tortured with a hot iron. Sometimes she would even be chained up.

Even though she was used in Sonia's illegal business, Runa would not be paid.

Instead, she would be beaten up if she asked for any kind of payment. She barely ate three meals a day.

This continued for two months until one day, Runa realised she was pregnant.

Sonia’s reaction was to call the local police. Under false charges, Runa had to spend two months in jail.

Later, with the help of the government of Jordan, she was able to return to Bangladesh on April 18 of this year. But her passport said she was barred from ever returning to Jordan.

Rather than being able to help her family financially, Runa returned home pregnant and in possession of only the clothes she was wearing.

Ostracized by society

Last Thursday, Runa gave birth to her daughter in Singair Hospital. Despite knowing the illegal aspects of the matter, the doctors put the name of a non-existent person in the papers as Runa's husband.

Since then, Runa has heard no end of abuse and slander from her community. Her fatherless child has become a social stigma for her.

Runa's father, Tara Mia, said after all contact from Runa ceased in October 2016, he went to find some answers from Abul Kashem, the manpower recruiting agent.

Kashem said Runa had run away after reaching Jordan.

Runa's father lodged a case against Kashem, and Kashem spent a few months in jail.

Later, following pressure from local influential people and Kashem's family, Runa's family withdrew the charges at the promise of a payment of Tk20,000.

They never saw that money, however, as Kashem used it to pay off those who had spoken in his favour.

Runa's mother, Modhumala, said her family's extreme poverty has only been exacerbated by the presence of one more mouth to feed.

Her father complained of how his family has been completely ostracized by the rest of the society, including to the point where a local influential ordered the villagers to stop aiding his family right before Eid-ul-Azha - a traditional period of charitable giving.

Local ‘settlement’

Runa's parents are demanding justice for their daughter's abuse through the punishment of Abul Kashem and Sonia.

When contacted, manpower recruiting agent Abul Kashem told this correspondent: "We have sent a lot of women abroad (and) no such incident like Runa's has ever occurred in my case. I am not responsible for anything."

He said after Runa was brought back to Bangladesh, the matter was “settled locally”.

Chairman of Dhalla union parishad in Singair, Md Jahidul Islam Bhuiyan, said he had no information on the case.

Singair police station officer in-charge Khandaker Imam Hossain said that although he had also not heard of Runa’s experience, legal aid would be given to her family if sought.

As for Runa, she only requested to this correspondent that the 30 other women who had been misled to seek Sonia's shelter in Jordan are returned to Bangladesh safely before they, too, meet her sad fate.





Names in this article have been changed to protect the identity of the victim