Bettiah: For three decades, Lakshmi Khatri, 46, has worked along the India-Nepal border to prevent human trafficking, rescuing more than 700 girls and young women from networks operating across the region. A resident of Bagaha in West Champaran, she has built an informal vigilance system linking villagers with the police, RPF, SSB, child welfare committees and social organisations.Khatri began her work in 1994 in Nepal after noticing a pattern of girls disappearing from villages in the Terai belt. Many were lured with promises of employment or marriage.
She said, “I am originally from Nepal’s Nawalparasi district, but I was married in Bettiah in West Champaran, Bihar. Even as a student, I began hearing frequent reports of girls going missing from my village and nearby areas, which pushed me to start investigating on my own. During this time, I joined an organisation in Nepal that works against human trafficking.After joining, I realised that most girls were being lured with false promises of jobs and trafficked to major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and parts of West Bengal through the open India-Nepal border.After my marriage in West Champaran, I continued my work there. Areas such as Valmikinagar, Bhikhnathori and Bhiswa, which lie along the open border, are considered safe routes by traffickers for transporting girls. This is why I started living in Valmikinagar on the India-Nepal border in 2000 and later moved to Bagaha to continue my work with an organisation of Bihar.”She added that she has been fighting trafficking in West Champaran for 25 years.On Jan 23 this year, a villager from Naurangiya under Bagaha-2 block reported that a new family had been living there for several days and was taking three minor girls with them. “I immediately informed the police. The investigation revealed that a mother and son from West Bengal were luring the three minor girls to West Bengal under the pretext of providing them with good jobs,” she added.Bagaha SP Ramanand Kaushal said Khatri’s inputs have been critical in several cases. Referring to the Jan 23 rescue, he said three minor girls were saved and two smugglers arrested.Commandant of SSB’s 65 battalion, Nandan Singh Mehra, said, “She has been a strong civilian partner in border-area vigilance. Her awareness campaigns have significantly improved reporting of suspicious movements.” He added that with her support, 15 traffickers were arrested in recent weeks.A local resident, Sudhir Kumar of Valmikinagar, said, “In a region where poverty, migration, and open borders make human trafficking easy and invisible, Lakshmi Khatri has become a living shield woman who turned courage into a movement and awareness into protection. Not armed with power or position, but with trust, persistence, and compassion, she continues her quiet war against one of the most brutal crimes in the borderlands. We often dismissed trafficking as regular migration for work. Now, if we suspect any wrongdoing, we first inform Khatri Didi.”
