Bengaluru: A 32-year-old Ugandan woman was beaten black and blue and pushed from the first floor of a building where she had gone to collect her passport from a few other fellow Africans, who had not only confiscated her passport, but had also allegedly forced her into prostitution in Byrathi Cross in Kothanur.
The victim has sustained multiple fractures on her right leg and has bruises all over her body. She is now undergoing treatment at a private hospital on Hennur Main Road. “I am a victim of human trafficking and I am going to pull all the perpetrators to the court,” said the victim, Nazia Fatima (name changed), to Deccan Chronicle.
She came to India from Kampala in Uganda on January 21, 2015 on a tourist/work visa. When she landed in Bengaluru, her passport was confiscated by a Ugandan woman, Farida Kirabo, who had promised her a job in a restaurant in Kothanur in Bengaluru.
Nazia was told to pay Rs 3 lakh to Farida for bringing her to India. “Instead of working at the restaurant, I was forced into prostitution by Farida and her accomplices Joy and Vicky, both Ugandans. They told me it was to recover Rs 3 lakh from me,” Nazia told Deccan Chronicle. “After I finished paying Rs 3 lakh to Farida, I went on Friday night to their house to collect my passport back so that I can go back to my country. But Farida, Vicky and another unidentified Nigerian man picked up a quarrel with me and assaulted me,” said Nazia.
She was punched in her face and beaten on her legs and hands by metal mopping rods. Then she was pushed from the balcony of the first floor house in Chikenappa Layout in Byrathi Cross.
The attackers took her to their first floor house again, and made her sit on the floor in a room. Only around 8.15 am on Saturday, she was taken to a nearby Cratis Hospital where she was admitted.
The house belonged to a Nigerian named Pasta alias Prince who runs a restaurant at the same place. Nazia was earlier working at a factory in South Korea for four years and had gone back to Uganda for holidays when she was contacted by Farida in October 2014 for a better job in India.
The hospital staff informed the police who rushed to the spot and conducted their inquiries. The Kothanur police registered an assault case only on Monday after the incident was reported by local TV news channels.
“Our inquiries revealed that it was a brawl over a couple of drinks. We have registered a case of assault. We are verifying the travel documents of all the African nationals involved. If they are found to be overstaying, they will be deported,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police, P. Harsha.
