This is the story of Munni, a commercial sex worker from Sonagachi, the largest red-light district in Kolkata, India. Sonagachi, translated as Golden Tree, has several hundred multistory brothels built in the winding lanes and is home to some 10, sex workers.
UNODC interviewed Munni, sixteen years old, who shares how she was trafficked, made her escape, returned to the brothels and how the economy of her trade works. I tell people I am a Hindu and that my name is Munni. I am sixteen now but I tell people I am twenty years old. I have been here for five years and this is my home. I have no family. She looks after me, feeds me, even gives me money to buy saris dresses for Durga Puja.
But she means business and I have to work. When I was little, a man came to my house and said he will keep me in a palace and that I will marry a prince but I have to do as he says. He brought me to Kolkata and left me here at one of the dirtiest brothels promising to return but never showed up. Munni: The brothel was owned by a fat woman and we called her 'aunty' in Bengali. First she bathed and fed me. I was given a bed to sleep and clean clothes. I felt happy to be among kind people.
Then on the third day she put make up on my face and made me stand along with the 20 other girls, for the men to pick their choice. At first I did not understand what was happening and thought we would be selected to go to a new home. When I understood what was happening I tried to escape. I was caught, locked in a dark room for a week and beaten with a thick wooden stick. They made sure not to hit on my face, chest, thigh and stomach as customers would not choose me. One night aunty was drunk and sleeping and her brother was in another brothel.
I ran away as fast as I could. I saw a police man on the road and told him my story. He promised to help me. He and his three friends raped me. I returned to Sonagachi and found a new aunty.
