The people who evicted around 400 sex workers from a 160-year-old brothel in Madaripur late last month believe they have done a good job by sending the women back home.

Nur-e-Alam Babu Chowdhury, mayor of Madaripur municipality, claimed that the girls could not get out of the brothel because of the madams, but they were now free.

"All the girls boarded a truck and left for home. They also bribed the truck driver not to tell anyone on the road that they were sex workers by profession," he claimed.

Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan, whose constituency is in Madaripur, told The Daily Star that the girls could now be rehabilitated in other businesses.

For his part, former municipality member Khalilur Rahman said a great service had been rendered to the sex workers by "freeing" them.

The real picture, though, is that the more than 300 sex workers are vulnerable and homeless now.

The madams, who are currently staying inside the brothel, said they could make contact with some of the sex workers over mobile phone and had come to know about the whereabouts of more than 300 sex workers.

But they were not sure about the fate of at least 60 others.

"Many of the girls were born right here in this brothel," said sexagenarian Mamata Rani, one of the seven madams (leaders), who used to run the brothel and supervise its insiders.

They claimed that the evicted sex workers had no home apart from this brothel.

They also alleged that policemen deployed at the entrance to the brothel were not letting the girls enter the brothel. The police, however, denied the allegations.

In the wake of threats of eviction, the High Court issued an order on July 22 asking the law enforcers to

let the sex workers continue their occupation for a year.

Meanwhile, a section of people under the banner of "Islahe Qoum Parishad" and local bonik samity organised a human chain at Puran Bazar in Madaripur town on Saturday.

They demanded that the madams staying inside the brothel vacate the place, Mamata Rani said.

She added that they were under pressure to rent the structures perched on a nine-bigha area of land to the local traders.

While visiting the place on August 31, The Daily Star correspondents found that the walls, doors and furniture of the brothel bore the brunt of the destruction.

One madam led the correspondents to the back door of one of the rooms.

"The girls escaped through here, crossing this patch of rubbish, and went out through the back door of that shop there," she said, pointing out the route.

District Women Affairs officer Mahmuda Akhter Kona said a pretty good

number of underage girls were forced into sex slavery at the brothel. Kona and the other locals believe that the girls will now be able to "go home".

However, Nina Goswami, deputy director (legal aid) of Ain o Salish Kendra, said the girls trafficked into the brothel might not be welcomed back into society.

"If the madams had been involved in forcing the underage girls into sex slavery, they should have been brought under justice," she said.

Madaripur Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Moniruzzaman yesterday said the law enforcers had so far arrested 16 people in connection with the attack on the brothel.

On August 27, activists of the Islamist organisation "Islahe Qoum Parishad" along with certain influential quarters evicted the sex workers from the brothel to purge the town of what they called sin.

(Our Madaripur correspondent Nityananda Halder contributed to this report)