By Sara Malm for MailOnline. There were hundreds of them living in the brothel, and when the men came they could do nothing but run. The mob cut off the electricity and gave the sex workers two hours to vacate or they would burn to death.
Now, months later, many of the Kandapara prostitutes have moved to other brothels, while others have had no choice but to remain in Tangail, where they live in hiding, under constant threat from local residents. Although many still take clients in secret, four former Kandapara girls have been killed since the July eviction, and the women who remain fear for their safety without the protection of the brothel.
Born in a brothel: Asma was born into the Tangail brothel where her mother worked. She has stopped attending school in town because the students harassed her over her mother's work. Changes: Shazia, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, 48, walks through the medical clinic where she works part time as a maid.
She was sent to Kandapara by her parents at a young age to work as a maid, and became a sex worker when she got older. She lost all of her possessions in the eviction and now makes ends meet by taking one or two clients a week in secret. Nowhere else: Asma, the teenage daughter of a sex worker, plays with her neighbour Nilupa's son in Tangail, where many sex workers have remained since they were evicted living in secret under threat from local residents.
Unstable future: Nilupa, seen with her two young sons, ran away from her parents when they tried to force her into marriage, and was found by a pimp who sold her into the Tangail brothel. Her madame beat her when she protested and tried to leave. She doesn't plan to continue working as a sex worker, 'I want to live a decent life for my kids now' she says. Government distributed condoms are seen scattered outside the demolished Kandapara brothe, which had been in the neighbourhood for years before it was destroyed.
