nformation, just in the (albeit unlikely) eventuality that someone with links to the Indian circus industry might be numbered amongst my readers. Instead the plan was to go to The Raj Mahal Circus which was playing at Akola, near Nagpur in central southern India. We wanted to be sure of total suprise so we didn't inform the child performers' families beforehand (often in the past someone from the families has tipped off the circus) and I decided to mislead through this Blog if I possibly could. Sorry about that...We had a score to settle with this particular circus as a previous rescue attempt last year had failed (see my posts of 19th/20th August) due to indifference - and most likely the corruption - of the local authorities in the region in which it had been playing at the time. Moreover the Raj Mahal Circus is one of the four circuses owned by Fateh Khan who is the most exploitative of all the circus owners. His son, Raza, is currently facing rape charges for offences at one of his other circuses. Fateh Khan is a very dangerous man and recently he has further empowered himself by taking a leading role in North Indian politics.
I left on Thursday lunchtime, accompanied by journalist Pranaya Rana and photographer Min Ratna Bajracharya of the Nepali Times. We flew to Nagpur via Delhi, and in the end also via Hyderabad as monsoon weather in Nagpur prevented us from landing there initially. Eventually we got to Nagpur and drove through the night to join the rest of the team in Akola at 5.30 a.m. on Friday morning. Meeting Kelvin Symon of ChildLine India Foundation I was told that we would be going to the police at 6.30, one hour later; the police would raid the circus at 7.00 a.m. He was quietly confident of success, following the clear cooperation that the advance party had received from the authorities over the previous few days. Kelvin was already beaming with pleasure as he had been part of the team that had been rebuffed last August and revenge would be sweet.
The raid went like a dream with 20 performers being released without any resistance. Of these 17 were female. One of the males was 43 years old; he had gone to the circus to find work and they wouldn't let him leave again so we readily agreed that he could walk out through the gates with us as well. Of the 20 releasees, 13 were minors (under 18). Six releasees were from Nepal itself and the remainder were (mainly ethnic Nepali) Indian nationals from West Bengal.
Raids always throw up surprises in what one finds and this time a big surprise came in the form of the presence of two foreign female performers, one American the other Italian, who were on short contracts. When I chatted to them it was clear that they had no idea of what was going on around them. They were kept largely separate from the rest of the troupe and allowed to leave the circus to go into town. They didn't know of the rape and violence of the Kahn circuses and never heard of Fateh Khan. Nor did they realise that the other girls weren't being paid. One of them asked me what the attraction of Nepalese girls was and when I said it was their fair skin I could see the penny drop with her. A white girl in a leotard is a great crowd puller for all the wrong reasons.
A key element to the success of the operation was the presence of a barrister, Nandita Rao, on the team. She ensured that everything was done by the book and in accordance with Indian law which is crystal clear on the definition and management of child labour and bonded labour. All of the releasees were modern day slaves and now that the paperwork to that effect has been completed meticulously under Nandita's supervision I am quite confident that the circus owner, Fateh Khan, will go to prison for his crimes.
The circus had been taken entirely by surprise which is perhaps why the raid was so unopposed. But later on in the day one of Khan's brothers turned up on a motor bike outside the police station and threatened some of the team members. The feisty Nandita Rao chased him off telling him that he'd better leave quickly or she would report him to the police for attempting to interrupt a police investigation. For the remainder of the day circus people watched us from jeeps and motor bikes in a continued attempt to intimidate us. In their number was one guy whom my colleague Shailaja (who was on the August 2007 rescue) remembered as having threatened to kill her if she returned to the circus. In spite of all this posturing we knew that we were safe as the police were on our side. Instead we were rather amused that the circus had been so unsettled by our success and no doubt also by the prospect of criminal convictions.
This week all of the releasees will be returned home with a police escort the whole way to their final destination to prevent circus retaliation or abduction. Then we'll help them to rejoin the human race. One girl showed us the marks on her hands which followed cuts received from the trapeze act having been cauterised by the ringmaster using molten wax so that the show could go on. His sordid show is now doomed to close forever.
I feel very proud to have been part of this operation, especially seeing the dedication and commitment of my colleagues. Over those couple of days the team members ate little or no food and worked around the clock. I have an abiding memory of seeing Nandita sleeping in the open in the midst of all the girls in a police courtyard. She told me afterwards that she is immune to the mosquitoes that were devouring the rest of us. Below I publish some film that I shot of the girls leaving the circus for good. I will edit my film footage over the next few days and publish a fuller version towards the end of the week.
