When Suniel Shetty saved 128 women from sex trafficking and arranged plane tickets for their return to Nepal

The incident, which Shetty chose to keep silent about, took place 28 years ago. It could have remained silent but Charimaya Tamang one of the women rescued in the operation talked about how she was trafficked from her village in 1996 and Shetty's help in their rescue. “When the government was confused as to how to go about the operation, it was India’s film hero, Suniel Shetty who supported us,” she revealed in the Vice India documentary – The Forgotten Ones: Human Trafficking In Nepal.

In the video, she said, “On February 5, 1996, the whole of Kamathipura, the brothel area, had been cordoned off by police and social workers. They got us out of there. This is how we were rescued. After being rescued, our government (Nepal) refused to bring us back. They said we didn’t have our birth certificates or citizenship cards. That is when your film hero, Suneil Shetty supported us. He got plane tickets to Kathmandu for 128 women who had been rescued.”

What happened in 1996?

On 5 February 1996, the Mumbai police conducted a raid in the Kamathipura red light area and rescued 456 survivors of sex trafficking between the ages of 14 and 30. Of the 456 rescued women, 128 were from Nepal. Most of these women didn’t have citizenship proof, so the Nepal government also refused to take them back.


Shetty credits the Mumbai police and his mother-in-law, Vipula Kadri, founder of the ‘Save the Children’ NGO, for the operation. He also refused to take the entire credit for arranging the return of 128 women as it could pose a risk for the women with mafia being involved in the case

He told Bollywood Hungama, “We didn’t really think about the price of flight tickets. The cost was not that important. It was the effort that counted. My mother-in-law started the Save The Children NGO and it’s active even today. All of us are involved in it. The inspiration comes from her. She was the one who decided to take the risk of rescuing the girls and thereby getting into the bad books of the mafia.” Shetty worked “passionately” with her along with Mumbai Police and Naresh Goyal’s Jet Airways.

The Hera Pheri actor assumed that women who were rescued probably remembered his name “because I am an actor.” He said, “Lekin mehnat bahut saare logon ki thi. Paiso se zyada humne jigar dikhaya ki in bachchiyon ki madat karenge aur itni bade mafia se takkar lenge. (But a lot of people worked hard. More than money, all of us showed courage to help these women and get in the bad books of the mafia).”

Suniel Shetty explained that the incident never got any attention in the media because everyone involved in the rescue operation prioritised the safety of the rescued girls. He shared, “Firstly, we didn’t want to glorify ourselves. It was not right as these girls were involved. Secondly, yeh aisi gandi mafia hai ki kabhi chodti nahi hai. Jitne low profile mein operation hone ki zarurat thi, waise hi hua (The operation took place in a low-profile manner). Hence, nobody even knew about this incident.”

Today, these 128 women including Charimaya Tamang are able to script their stories and build a bright future for themselves, inspiring us that sometimes all it takes is an act of kindness to change a life or lives!