Guria India Blog

Well done Gaurav Mathur! He ran the Old Deer Park Richmond Half Marathon, in London, on Sunday and raising nearly £150 for Guria! We are so grateful for your support and applaud your accomplishment. Please do chip in and support Gaurav’s brave efforts here: https://www.justgiving.com/gaurav-mathur2

On February 16th, Guria rescued four siblings from slavery in a brick kiln in Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh state. The four bonded laborers were all siblings—three sisters and their brother, and one of the sisters was only 5 years old. Of the many enslaved people Guria has rescued in the past 35 days, we have found that most of them are not actually from Uttar Pradesh state, where the brick kilns were located. Most of the rescued victims have been from neighboring states.

We haven’t been posting each time it has happened, but in the last 8 months, we have rescued a total of 39 girls from sex trafficking. Broadening our lens from just sex trafficking, in the last 8 months we rescued a total of 193 enslaved persons from all forms of slavery. We will never stop acting against injustice!

ACTION UPDATE: Last week, Guria filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Hon’ble High Court seeking direction regarding the constitution of the Victim Compensation Fund and its distribution to victims of sex trafficking as per the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act of 2012.  Out of 71 districts in Uttar Pradesh state, 55 districts replied saying they had NO records of EVER paying ANY compensation to victims! This raises serious questions about our own NGO fraternity working on the issues of human trafficking, child prostitution, and rape. But, we believe it is crucial to raise questions at every step to find solutions to the menace of human traffi cking. For those who don’t know: a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) is a way to remedy a problem through the court that is plaguing the public. When you file a PIL, you present grievances of a public problem before the court, and hope that they issue orders t o the relevant parties to remedy the problem. (So in this cas...