For 5 years she was locked up, tortured, raped

She was confined, tortured and forced into sex work for more than five years.

She was never even allowed to go out or talk to her family members.

A victim of sex slavery narrated her ordeal at the Police Bureau of Investigation office in Dhaka's Banasree area on Tuesday.  

"They tortured me more whenever I wanted to talk to my mother even for a minute," the young woman, now 21, told The Daily Star yesterday.

In April 2016, her aunt had sent her to a house in Dhaka's Bhatara area to work as a domestic help. Just days after, she was confined.

She ended up in the hands of a gang that forced girls and women into sex work, said Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, superintendent (Dhaka Metro South) of the PBI.

Her captors, however, released her four or five months ago as she became physically and psychologically ill, Mizanur said, adding that she then made her way to a relative's house in the district.

"Until then, her family had assumed she was dead."

The PBI, which has been reinvestigating the case filed after she went missing in 2016, came to know about her return recently.

Five members of the gang -- Lata Begum, who employed the girl, her husband Baser Mia, their sons Rabbi and Al Amin, and driver Sohag -- were arrested from Dhaka, Mizanur told a press briefing at his office yesterday. Sub-inspector Masud Khan led the drive.

Speaking to The Daily Star, the victim said Sohag, Rabbi and Al Amin were among those who raped her during captivity.

PBI officials said the girl's aunt sent her to Lata's house in 2016, where she stayed for only a week.

Later, Sohag took her to his house and raped her. Lata's sons also raped her there.

They later forced her into sex work and took her to another house. She was moved to several houses during captivity.

Failing to contact her, family members went to Lata's house. She told them that the girl left her house for her village. 

Meanwhile, a decomposed body of a girl was recovered from Bhatara area and the family primarily identified it as their loved one.

The victim's aunt then filed a case with Bhatara Police Station against Lata, her family members and an unnamed driver, on charges of rape and murder, Mizanur said. 

The accused were arrested but released on bail after six months.

Meanwhile, DNA samples of the dead body and the victim's parents did not match, confirming that the deceased was not their daughter.

Bhatara Police then submitted the final report in June 2019 to a Dhaka Court -- citing factual errors in the case. The court asked PBI to reinvestigate the case as the victim remained missing.

The PBI then finally arrested the accused for forcing the girl into sex work after she returned.

Mizanur said Lata is the ringleader of the group and used to force girls into sex work. She would also give money to the victim's aunt so that the latter would not file cases against her in this regard, he said.

"We are going to file a case against the five arrestees and the aunt with Bhatara Police Station. If other names emerge during investigation, they will be implicated in the case too," said Md Shamsuzzaman, PBI additional superintendent.

Speaking to The Daily Star, all the accused denied the allegations against them. Meanwhile, the girl's aunt is on the run, PBI officials said. 

The victim's mother said they are happy they got their daughter back but demanded justice for the ordeal she had to endure.