After passing Class XII, her father, an alcoholic, discouraged her from enrolling in a college. A neighbour lured her to join a textile factory in Coimbatore, with the promise of a 9-to-5 job that could allow her to independently pursue higher education. But it proved to be hellish. The factory employed nearly 4,000 women workers, most of whom, she says, were trafficked from the southern states. Working for more than 12 hours a day, the women routinely faced sexual harassment in the factory — that lacked the legally mandated internal complaints committee — and were kept like captives in a hostel.