My family lived in absolute poverty, and so when a gang of thieves offered to buy me for a considerable sum, my parents didn’t refuse. I was sold to the gang a few days later and thrown into a room with a few other children.
The men taught us to thieve and pickpocket; if we didn’t get our quota back, we were beaten and abused, so we had to work all through the day to make sure we earned enough money to spare ourselves. I was very young.
One day, while pickpocketing the purse of a lady, I was caught red-handed by the police, and this is one of the biggest blessings I could have asked for. The policemen immediately notified Aarti Home, and I was brought here to properly start my education. I’m in the seventh grade now. Everyone at Aarti calls me Police Lakshmi to distinguish me from all the other girls named Lakshmi!

When I grow up, I want to be either an actor or a policewoman, but I’m still deciding which one. My father always wanted me to be an actor, and it’s one of my dreams to make him proud, but I also never want any child to go through the trauma that I have gone through. That’s why I want to join the police force. I want to ensure the safety of girls who often forget what that feels like. It’s important to let girls know that they are not unwanted.