All the ducks were in a row by lunchtime today, ready for our raid on a circus in the south of India. Paperwork had been prepared, flights booked, media alerted....and then at 1.30 p.m. Kelvin Symon of ChildLine India Foundation phoned me to say that the circus had moved location. So the trip was off, postponed until the circus arrives at its next location in early October. My expectations of a major success were thwarted, at least for now. The most I could do was revisit Interpol in Kathmandu this afternoon and present the paperwork that should be enough for the circus owner to be extradited to Nepal to face trafficking charges in the very near future.
Meanwhile in Hetauda, there has been apparent stonewalling on the part of the police in the pursuit of the case against alleged trafficking agent Shankar Basnet who was picked up by our field team on Monday evening. Statements had been taken against him from a witness who was trafficked by him to end up being allegedly raped at the circus. The case should have been lodged within one day of this at the District Court and all seemed done and dusted to us. Four days later we were appalled to learn that the police have still done nothing and we gather that the girl is being summoned to the police station again tomorrow. In short she is being put under a great deal of mental pressure (perhaps in the hope that she will retract her statement). The pressure is exacerbated by the incident having attracted the attention of local media who have been at the police station. Moreover Basnet's idiot neighbours have been adding to the intimidation by protesting at the station - trafficking really is something that can involve conspiracy and collaboration by whole communities.
Tomorrow we will take firm action to protect this girl who has been so courageous as to give evidence before her trafficker and we'll ensure that her will doesn't break under this unacceptable pressure. The local police are effectively treating her like a criminal and they should be ashamed of themselves as police officers and as men.
