You showed us the mirror, baby Falak

This world was not for you, baby Falak. In the last two months of your life, you told us why you did not belong here. On Republic Day, a national daily published your plight. The nation discovered you. But while unraveling your story, no regard was shown to your sensitivities and the fact that you were undergoing treatment. Crossing legal and ethical boundaries, media published your name, picture and each and every minute detail, as and when we got it. Journalists entered the intensive care unit where you were getting treated and tried monitoring each and every move of yours when you were battling for life. We know you by your real name. We should not have. Through the girl who took you to AIIMS, you told us the story of thousands of girls who are victims of prostitution. And the flesh trade which is flourishing not in remote towns of India but right in the national capital. The girl is now undergoing counseling and hopefully, will be normal in time to come. [caption id=“attachment_247926” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“You told us that child trafficking is very much alive and is thriving like never before. Image courtesy ibnlive.com”] [/caption] While exploring that how this teenager got your possession, we touched upon vulnerability of girl child in Indian families. Father of the girl with whom you spent a few days and who brought you to AIIMS, used to get drunk and beat her. That was why she left home and subsequently became victim of sex trade. In your mother, we discovered the sordid tale of bride trafficking. After she gave birth to you and two of your siblings, your father left her with three of you. She had to survive and she wanted you three to live. She was sold to a man in Rajasthan as an unmarried woman. It is a common practice in Rajasthan, Haryana and parts of Uttar Pradesh which have skewed sex ratio. Due to lack of females, men often buy brides. It is slavery in its new avatar. You told us that child trafficking is very much alive and is thriving like never before. People, who sold your mother to a man in Rajasthan, promised her that they would take care of her children — you and your siblings. But then they sold you three also. How much money they got is not important. What matters is that you were sold. Let us hope that after your demise, the government gets serious about this issue. You brought the focus back to thousands of children who are abandoned by their parents. You were found in Delhi, where two children are abandoned every day. It is time we had a system where parents are discouraged from abandoning the children and in case, they do so, the authorities should devise strategies to reunite the child to his or her biological parents. You also told us about the apathy with which police deals with cases like yours. Police arrested 13 people in your case. It was an exception. Continuous media coverage moved things. Otherwise, such cases become mere numbers and work as database for police records or for someone doing research on abandoned children. Thanks for showing us the mirror, baby Falak. May you rest in peace!