Human trafficking has become so rampant in India that immigrants’ stories of harrowing experiences aren’t a surprise anymore. As the Vibes of India has been reporting in these spaces, the desperation to escape India often makes individuals vulnerable to exploitation by traffickers, who prey on their dreams, subjecting them to illegal routes that result in suffering and ultimately deportation if they survive. Sadly, Gujarat and Punjab top the list when it comes to illegal immigration.
This was the reality for Pankaj Rawat Rameshwar Das, a man from Haryana whose dream of starting a new life in the US turned into a nightmare lasting 178 days and spanning 11 countries.
According to Rawat’s complaint, he was contacted by trafficker Abdul while working in Surat. Abdul, claiming to have successfully sent people to the US, promised Rawat employment and accommodation.
Rawat claimed that he was forced to pay Rs 35 lakh to a trafficking network and was sent through a dunki route, designed to smuggle people into the US. Dipping into his savings and taking loans, he paid Rs 20 lakh in January 2024 and the remaining Rs 15 lakh in May 2024.
Abdul arranged for Rawat to fly from Mumbai to Guyana, starting the beginning of a perilous journey. Rawat was forced to travel through dangerous jungle routes to Brazil.
During his journey — they took him through Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Mexico — Rawat faced death threats, assault by traffickers, and other forms of abuse.
When he demanded his money back, he was threatened by the local accomplices of Abdul and Pradeep, who allegedly warned him that they would kill him in a foreign country if he attempted to escape.
After spending four months in Colombia, Rawat endured a nightmarish journey through Panama’s jungles for eight days before reaching Panama City. There, he was confined to a house for another 10 days. From Panama, Rawat was transported through Central America and eventually arrived in Mexico City, where he stayed in a hotel for a fortnight. He was then moved to the city of Hermosillo, where he spent another 15 days in a trafficker’s house before being directed to attempt a border crossing into the US.
However, upon crossing the border, US border authorities apprehended and detained him for 14 days. Along with other Indian immigrants, he was deported to India on February 16, 2025.
Rawat’s complaint led to the initiation of a Zero FIR, which was transferred to Surat City Police for further investigation. The police have booked Abdul and Pradeep under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for human trafficking, criminal conspiracy, cheating, and intimidation. They also face charges under the Emigration Act.
It must be noted that an astronomical number of Indians have been trying to escape India through legal or illegal routes since 2014. The latest figures, released in 2023, affirm that 2022 saw the highest number of Indians giving up their citizenship.
A record number of 225,620 Indian Citizens renounced their citizenship and have taken up foreign citizenship in 2022. In 2011, 1.22 lac Indians had given up their citizenship but in 2022, the number crossed 2.25 lacs.
The Indian passport’s ranking has also been on decline and so is the democracy index. India provides visa-free access to less than 65 countries compared to Singapore, United States, Canada and United Kingdom, where visa free access crossed over 160 countries. India also does not offer a dual citizenship status.
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