Category Archives: GENDER

May8

Lid blown off trafficking racket after serial weddings

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North 24 parganas district

North 24 parganas district (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

FROM THE ARCHIVES – PUBLISHED IN TIMES OF INDIA   MARCH 26,2010

KOLKATA: For years, Tarapada Biswas’s house at Basirhat’s Charghat, in North 24-Parganas, had been the talk of the town. Hardly a day passed without a wedding ceremony being held there. On Wednesday, however, the secret

behind the “much-married” house came out. The wedding ceremonies were no more than a cover for an elaborate woman-trafficking racket.

The weddings at Biswas’s home had one thing in common. The grooms were mostly from UP and Haryana. Most brides, however, were from Bangladesh infiltrators, as it turned out. It was a complaint from one such woman on Wednesday that unearthed the racket.

The woman alleged in her complaint with Swarupnagar police that she feared of being trafficked to Haryana. Police raided Tarapada’s house, arrested Mukesh Chomar (22), the sham groom from Haryana. On interrogating him, it was found that a flesh trade supply racket had been in operation from the house for four years. Ironically, the woman whose complaint unearthed the racket herself landed in police custody, charged with illegally crossing the border. Prime accused Tarapada and his wife, though, were not found and police have launched a hunt for them.

The racket came to light after the girl from Bangladesh refused to marry a groom from Haryana, saying she had no plans of marrying outside Bengal.

During their investigations, police learnt that Biswas had strong links with an Uttar Pradesh-based gang. Girls aged between 18 and 25 were brought either from Bangladesh or from rural hamlets of Basirhat and Bongaon to tie the knot with sham grooms from north India.

Biswas charged anything between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 for each wedding, in which he would act as marriage registrar and organise a ceremony complete with rituals, followed by dinner for guests. Though the frequent weddings did raise neighbours’ eyebrows, they preferred to leave him alone, especially as he didn’t socialise much.

Some neighbours had even gone to police with complaints, but there was no written complaint till Wednesday, said the cops. Some of the brides’ families, too, had occasionally complained that they were unable to trace their daughters after the marriage, but again, none was a written complaint.

“Biswas had even refused to speak to the fathers of several girls who had such complaints,” said an officer of Swarupnagar police station.

FROM THE ARCHIVES – PUBLISHED IN TIMES OF INDIA   MARCH 26,2010

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Feb11

Women abducted & sold: Gang busted, two arrested

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English: The Delhi Tourist Police, India

Image via Wikipedia

TIMES OF INDIA

NEW DELHI: At a time when several people are being arrested in the AIIMS baby case, police have stumbled upon another gang of traffickers who used to abduct women from various parts of the capital and get them married off in other states for money. Two persons have been arrested from Hardwar and identified as Meena (45) and Vijay Rai (38).

The Outer Delhi police were carrying out raids to trace a 16-year-old girl, who had been kidnapped from the Shahbad Dairy area. After the police rescued the girl from Ghaziabad, it emerged that she was kidnapped by a ‘couple’ and taken to Hardwar where she was forced to marry a man. On her instance, the cops raided a hideout in Hardwar and rescued another woman, who was kidnapped from Old Delhi railway station by the same ‘couple’ after they befriended her while she was waiting for her train to Bihar to her husband on January 17. The duo had abducted the 20-year-old woman, from Ludhiana in Punjab, after sedating her at platform number 1 and took her to Hardwar where they were trying to marry her off.

The cops said the 16-year-old girl was kidnapped on December 18 from the Shahbad Dairy area by Vijay and Meena. The duo allegedly struck a deal with a man identified as Lokendra in Rs 80,000 and got them married. He began to live in Ghaziabad with the girl until the police traced her using electronic surveillance, cops said.

Initially, the girl did not reveal the real story and told cops that she had willingly married him but when she was sent for counselling to an NGO in Delhi, the girl spilled the beans. She gave them the address of the duo in Hardwar where she had been kept initially.

“We formed a police team that was sent to Hardwar to carry out further investigations and arrest the people involved in the racket. The team managed to arrest Meena and Vijay and brought them to Delhi,” said a senior police officer from Outer district.

According to the 20-year-old woman, while she was sitting alone at the platform, “a man wearing an army uniform sat beside me and began to chat. He was joined by another woman. Both became my friends as they said they had to go to Araria as well. They offered me tea and after drinking it, I lost consciousness. The duo then took me with them to Hardwar and kept me at their house.” The accused were about to get her married to a man but came in cops’ net before that.

The victim was brought to Delhi, counselled and sent to a short-stay home for women in distress in Hari Nagar as she did not have a local guardian or a house in Delhi. Later, the cops traced her parents. They came to Delhi and took her back home.

Vijay and Meena are being questioned by the cops. The police suspect that these two arrests may be the tip of the iceberg and, hence, the case has been handed over to the crime branch of Delhi Police.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Women-abducted-sold-Gang-busted-two-arrested/articleshow/11842579.cms

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Feb11

MINOR GIRL KIDNAPPED FROM ASSAM RESCUED: ACCUSED ARRESTED

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With the arrest of Mintu Saikia, aged about 22 years s/o Rongai Saikia r/o Village Moinajuli, P.S. Dhekiajuli, District Sonitpur, Assam, Central District Police has solved a case of kidnapping of a minor girl kidnapped from Assam.  She had been kidnapped on 05-08-2011 and has been re-united with her family hale and hearty on 10-02-2012.

INCIDENT AND TEAM

On 08.02.12, a request from Senior police officer of Assam, Jorhat was received mentioning therein that a minor girl has been kidnapped by accused person and a case vide FIR No. 916/11 u/s 366-A IPC has been registered at PS Jorhat, Assam. He further suspected that the accused along with victim are outside Assam and somewhere in Delhi.  The local police has not been able to locate the whereabouts of the accused and kidnapped girl. He had sought help from Delhi Police in this case.

 Accordingly, a team consisting of Inspr. Bijender Singh, SHO/Pahar Ganj, SI Vinay, HC Sukhpal, Const. Tejbir, W/Const. Poonam was constituted  under the close supervision of Sh. Raja Ram, ACP/Pahar Ganj.

 INVESTIGATION

 Initially, it was suspected to be a case of elopement in a love affair. The kidnapped girl did not make any contact with her parents / relatives even after lapse of 3-4 months. During investigation, it was revealed that the parents doubted one boy namely Mintu Saikia, who was also missing from the date of incident.

On 17-01-2012, after a gap of more than five months, the mother of the girl received a call on her mobile number from a person, who identified himself as Mintu and he made the victim to talk with her mother.  During conversation, it was revealed that the victim was confined in a room and not allowed to talk to anyone or go anywhere outside. During second conversation, the victim asked her mother to send Rs. One Lac, which was demanded by the accused.

On the basis of technical surveillance, it was revealed that the accused was residing in the area of Okhla, Delhi. This information was further developed and a raid was conducted at his various possible hideouts. Secret sources were also deployed to get clues about the whereabouts of accused Mintu as well as the kidnapped girl. With concerted efforts and on the basis of secret information, the accused was apprehended along with the victim by the police team of PS Pahar Ganj outside New Delhi Railway Station.  During sustained interrogation, he confessed his involvement in the crime. Due to the active role of Central district police, especially staff of PS Pahar Ganj and better co-ordination between Assam and Delhi Police, the case of kidnapping of minor girl was solved and the minor victim could be rescued and rehabilitated.  Assam Police has been informed.

PROFILE

Mintu Saikia s/o Rongai Saikia r/o Village Moinajuli, P.S. Dhekiajuli, District Sonitpur, Assam is 22 years old and has studied up to 10th class. He has one brother. He met the girl in an All Assam Dance Competition at Jorhat, Assam.

 (DEVESH CHANDRA SRIVASTVA), IPS
ADDL. COMMISSIONER OF POLICE,
CENTRAL DISTRICT, DELHI.

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Feb1

Girl was forced into prostitution

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DEVESH PANDEY IN THE HINDU

The teenaged girl who recently got the two-year-old baby admitted to the AIIMS Trauma Centre was allegedly raped by scores of people after she was pushed into prostitution by a gang led by the man who lived with her at a guest house in Mahipalpur here. The Lajpat Nagar Child Welfare Committee has ordered registration of a separate case against the gang members.

The gory details of the torture the 14-year-old girl was subjected to over the past few months after she fled her father’s home in Sangam Vihar were revealed by her during counselling sessions. The girl, who earlier did not tell the truth because of fear and shame, told her counsellor and a CWC member that she was sexually abused by scores of people.

The girl disclosed that her father remained in jail for eight years for the murder of his nephew in Kalkaji. The victim submitted before the CWC that she had once visited her father, who is presently out on bail, at Tihar Jail.

The young girl alleged that her father was very abusive and would beat her and her mother brutally with sticks and belt. This had become an everyday affair. When her mother passed away, he sent her to an orphanage in Darya Ganj and there he falsely identified himself as her uncle, claiming that her father had died.

Back at her father’s place, the girl could not bear the daily torture and fled home on May 26 last year. A few days later her father got a kidnapping case registered at the Sangam Vihar police station. Claiming that he had raised suspicion about the role of some persons in the case, the father is now accusing the police of not having taken the matter seriously. A terrible misfortune lay ahead for the hapless girl who escaped from an abusive father and ended up being trapped by one Pooja, who lived in the neighbourhood with her husband Sandeep, and allegedly ran a prostitution racket along with her accomplices Arti and Rajkumar who has been identified as Dilshad.

In its order on Tuesday, the CWC said: “It is shocking to know that the child has been subjected to sexual abuse by several persons. She has been used for commercial sexual exploitation by Pooja, Arti, Sandeep and even Dilshad.”

Taken to Etah

The victim was taken to Etah in Uttar Pradesh by Pooja; and Sandeep allegedly raped her for three consecutive days. At Pooja’s residence, she was forced to entertain clients. In her statement, she purportedly disclosed that she was in August last sent to a woman’s residence on “one-week prostitution contract”.

During this period, she alleged that she was abused by almost seven persons every day. The girl alleged that Dilshad would also take her to clients. All the money paid to her allegedly went to Pooja. The victim chose to stay with Dilshad as his behaviour towards her was better compared with the other gang members. Describing the girl as a child in need of care and protection under the Juvenile Justice Act, the CWC has directed the investigating officer to register two cases, one against the father for cruelty and abuse of the child, and the other against Pooja, Sandeep, Arti, Dilshad and the others involved.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/article2850209.ece

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Dec25

Mumbai: Flourishing Prostitution Racket in Guise of Dance Troupes?

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RACKET BUSTED IN INDORE

RACKET BUSTED IN INDORE

Mumbai: Flourishing Prostitution Racket in Guise of Dance Troupes?

Mumbai, Dec 24:After six girls, being sent to a foreign destination in the guise of a dance troupe, were found to be sent there for being a part of the sex racket there, they were rescued from  the international airport here on Wednesday.

This incident has again brought to the fore the legitimacy of cultural troupes making foreign tours in the name of promoting country’s culture, and helping some of the members of these troupes to illegally immigrate to another country and become a part of an illegal sex racket there.

During this flash raid, ten passports were seized. The policemen found that these girls had earlier visited Abu Dhabi, Malaysia and Singapore. One of the arrested, Sharif Sheikh, was remanded to police custody by a local court till Tuesday next.

The above rescue act was made by the social service wing of Mumbai police. Reports said that the six girls the wing arrested on Wednesday are in fact, not trained dancers, but they were being taken outside the country for sex trade. These girls, the policemen have found out, are being screened and auditioned in studios, before being picked for being part of the flourishing international prostitution racket, which serves affluent clients mostly from Singapore, Malaysia and the Middle East.

The policemen had learnt that every month, about 5,000 girls from the country are being ferried out of the nation by rackets helping brothels functioning in foreign destinations.  Many have expressed the suspicion that a number of young girls, who have regularly been mysteriously going missing from their homes in Udupi, Dakshin Kannada and Kerala, and whose whereabouts almost always go untraced, are being used by this racket.

These rackets are active in cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chandigarh, etc. Pimps located in these cities identify and source girls to this racket. In the name of troupes of dancers touring foreign countries, thousands of girls are being taken to foreign countries. These girls never return to country with the troupes, but stay there for some time. It is suspected that these rackets collect huge sums of money for helping these girls to be carried abroad.

Assistant police commissioner, Vasant Daombale, said that these troupes carry these girls on the basis of either the tourist visas or work permits, in which their profession is stated as dance artistes, which are valid for one or two months. He revealed that the girls, most of whom have experience of being bar dancers, are auditioned and photographed in studios in Andheri. They are then picked on the basis of these processes, for being transported to foreign locations. He suspects that this racket’s annual turnover is in thousands of crores of rupees. He said that the girls are being sent in batches of six to ten with a gap of ten days in between two batches, from different cities. He added that the girls are paid about one to two lac rupees before being ferried, after which they get 40 percent of their earnings out of entertaining rich clients. If the girls return later, they work under pimps in the country, he said.

http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=125542

 

Dec15

Forced Marriages in Haryana

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HUMAN TRAFFICKING NEWS IS A SHAKTI VAHINI NATIONAL LEGAL RESEARCH DESK INITIATIVE

The Government has taken a number of measures to improve the sex ratio. The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 makes sex selective abortions a punishable offence. Further, the Ministry undertakes programmes for awareness generation as well as for socio-eco empowerment of women. Giving this information to the Rajya Sabha today, the Minister of Women & Child Development Smt. Krishna Tirath said that the Government of Haryana has also taken various steps to improve the gender balance. These include- implementation of the Ladli Scheme w.e.f. 20.8.2005 under which a sum of Rs.5000/- is given on the birth of second girl child for a period of 5 years; and giving cash prize to the best performing districts in terms of sex ratio.

The Minister also informed the House that in so far as trafficking is concerned, the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 supplemented by the Indian Penal Code (IPC) prohibits trafficking in human beings, including children and lays down penalties for trafficking. Advisories for combating trafficking have been issued on 09.09.2009 and 12.10.2011 by the Government of India to all States/Union Territories. Further, the Ministry has been implementing the “Ujjawala” Scheme, under which financial assistance is being provided for prevention of trafficking and for rescue, rehabilitation and re-integration of victims of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation

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Nov21

SEX RACKET busted, 13 held

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RACKET BUSTED IN INDORE

RACKET BUSTED IN INDORE

THE FREE PRESS

OUR STAFF REPORTER Indore Police on Sunday busted a sex racket being operated from a beauty parlour on MG Road and arrested 13 persons, including six girls. A married couple was running the racket from the parlour.

Crime branch sleuths had received information that ‘Awesome Beauty and Massage Parlour’located in front of Treasure Island is running a sex racket under the guise of ‘salon’. A joint team of ‘We Care for You’wing and the Crime branch laid a trap to bust the racket. A plaincloth policeman reached the parlour as a prosspective customer. The parlour operators asked ‘the costumer’to deposit Rs 1500 for the service. Once confirmed that the flesh trade is being operated, the cop signaled the police team, which raided the parlour and arrested 13 persons.

Seven boys— Piyush Verma, Deepak Rajoriya, Sonu Soni, Devendra Dube, Vishal Sharma, Anurag and Baljeet— were arrested from the parlour and handed over to Tukoganj police while six female accused to Mahila thana.

Crime branch sleuths said that Piyush Verma along with his wife Usha alias Gudiya was operating the racket. ‘All the girls nabbed from the parlour where outsiders. They were hired by the couple for running the flesh trade,’the sleuths added. The parlour was famous as Gudiya Madams.

The Tukoganj police knew about the sex racket but did not act against it, sources claimed. They stated that the parlour was raided previously also for the same crime and was shut. But, it opened again and began the flesh trade some three months back.

http://www.freepressjournal.in/news/33073-SEX-RACKET–busted–13-held.html

Nov20

GAP, Walmart, C&A, H&M warn their Indian suppliers against textile mills that involve child & bonded-labour

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NEWS ON ANTI TRAFFICKING IS A NATIONAL LEGAL RESEARCH DESK –  SHAKTI VAHINI RESEARCH INITIATIVE

ECONOMIC TIMES

AHMEDABAD: An employment system for girls in Tamil Nadu is threatening to waylay the country’s $11-billion garment export industry, with several international retailers distancing themselves from supply chains that involve the allegedly exploitative scheme.

India has often drawn flak from welfare organisations for poor vigilance against child and forced labour. In the latest sign that the West is serious about labour issues, multinational retailers, such as GAP, Walmart, C&A, H&M, Primark, Mothercare and Tesco, have instructed their Indian suppliers to stop sourcing raw material from textile mills that employ girls under ‘Sumangali‘, a contractual arrangement that labour watchdogs say involves unfair practices and amounts to bonded labour.

The development could have serious ramifications for the domestic apparel industry, which earns 80% of its business from Europe and the US. “We are aware of a number of new sources that continue to show the existence of child labour and forced labour in Indian garment production. In some cases, labour schemes such as the ‘Sumangali’ are involved,” said Marcia Eugenio, director, office of child labour, forced labour and human trafficking in the US Labour Department’s Bureau of International Labour Affairs.

Thousands of rural and tribal girls in Tamil Nadu seek employment in the state’s textiles industry under ‘Sumangali’, a Tamil word for “bride”, drawing between 36,000 and 56,000 for a three-year work contract. Mill owners make a lump sum payment to the parents at the end of the term, purportedly to help with their marriage expenses.

The scheme, introduced in the state in the mid-1990s, became a big draw for an industry that often faces labour shortage.

The lump sum payment and free accommodation feature of the scheme is luring poor families, labour watchdogs allege that it results in girls being trapped for the contract period. This allegation is backed by Social Awareness and Voluntary Education (SAVE), a non-government organisation in the knitwear hub of Tirupur, 400 km from state capital Chennai.

“Girls are kept captive in hostels, not allowed to make phone calls and their salaries are withheld for three years. They are paid poorly – 40-60 a day, against the state’s minimum wage of 184,” SAVE director A Aloysius said. “They are made to work for 12 hours. In some cases, contracts have been illegally terminated and girls have left empty-handed,” he added. But the industry body says the scheme gives dignity of labour to the otherwise illiterate and poor women.

The Southern India Mills Association (SIMA) says the term ‘Sumangali’ has been done away with, and that some 120 mills under it are offered an “apprentice scheme with hostel facility”. “It is misleading to label the scheme as bonded labour. German-firm TUV Rheinland audits our mills to certify women employment standards,” secretary general K Selvaraju said. SV Arumugam, chairman of Confederation of Indian Textile Industry, said the system of onetime payment caters to parents’ demands that the salary be kept with employers as savings.

Armugam, who is also the director of Shiva Textiles, a mill employing 400 women under the scheme, said, “You cannot permit the employees to leave the dormitories at 1 am just because the western world perceives this as violation of human rights.” “But we have discontinued payment of lump sum and encourage parents to collect salaries every month,” he added.

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Nov19

Nepali girls held in India with fake passports

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OM ASTHA RAI in my republica.com

KATHMANDU, Nov 19: In an eye-opening case, which also exposes the existence of well-coordinated rackets involved in human trafficking even after the lifting of a ban on Nepali women´s entry into the Gulf countries, Indian police have held 10 Nepali girls from Delhi airport on the charge of using fake passports to fly to Saudi Arabia.

The Nepali girls bound for Jeddah, a major city of Saudi Arabia, were arrested Thursday night at Indira Gandhi International Airport of Delhi after Indian immigration authorities found them in possession of fake passports. According to Bishwo Ram Khadka, director of Maiti Nepal, which is preparing to hire a lawyer through its sister organization Maiti India to defend the Nepali girls in the court, Indian authorities suspected that their passports, which already have visa stamps for various countries, actually belonged to other Nepali women.

“They were all young girls leaving the country for the first time,” Khadka said. “But, the passports carried by them had multiple previous visa stamps. This is why the Indian authorities interrogated them further. And, the girls admitted that those were not their passports.”

The girls were sent to a women shelter inside Tihar prison on Friday. They will be tried in an Indian court for using fake passports early next week. “Although they used fake passports, they are innocent. They were duped by trafficking rackets,” Khadka said. “We will try to defend them in the Indian court with this argument.”

According to Maiti Nepal that sent representatives to India to collect details on Friday, passports belonging to Ashmita Galan, Raksirang, Makwanpur (PP No. 4500323), Maiya Sarki, Gaishar, Lamjung (PP No. 5174515), Meena Gumba, Manhari-2, Makwanpur (PP No. 4756521), Gorakhi Lodh, Bangi-9, Rupandehi (PP No. 4163789), Min Maya Pulami Magar, Devchuli-5, Nawalparasi (PP No. 3661135), Dipa Sarki, Kanchanpur-6, Banke (PP No. 5259820), Sushila Magar, Jante-9, Morang (PP No. 1958867), Pasang Lama, Lho-1, Gorkha (PP No. 3888649), Shanti Sunar, Sitapur-4, Banke (PP No. 3075566), Mrs Chandra Kala Thapa, Kota-1, Tanahu (PP No. 4809476) have been recovered from them. Their actual names and addresses are unknown.

However, Indian immigration officials did not inform the Nepali Embassy in Delhi about the arrest of the Nepali girls till Friday. “We have informally learnt about the arrests of 10 Nepali girls in Delhi,” a highly-placed source at the embassy told Republica Friday evening. “However, Indian officials have not informed us about the arrests against the international practice of promptly informing the concerned country in such cases.”

The girls were arrested a few days after the immigration department of Saudi Arabia stopped accepting hand-written passports of Nepali workers. Saudi Arabia had stopped accepting hand-written passports following several cases of trafficking of migrant workers. The arrested girls were about to fly to Jeddah on hand-written passports. Nepal had lifted a ban on Nepali women´s entry into four major gulf countries — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and Qatar — almost a year ago after assessing that the ban actually prompted them into entering the Gulf illegally through India. However, the arrests in Delhi have shockingly confirmed that Nepali women are still being trafficked to Gulf countries especially via India.

Why do Nepali women continue to go to the Gulf illegally via India even after the lifting of the ban on their legal entry? “The lifting of the ban does not simply mean that Nepali women can easily go to the gulf,” said a senior official at Ministry of Labor and Transport Management (MoLTM), unwilling to be named.

“They need to fulfill some prerequisites to legally enter any of the Gulf countries. For instance, they must learn certain skills without which they may be harassed by their employers. The manpower agency through which they proceed to the Gulf needs to produce recommendations from the concerned embassy. Obviously, unscrupulous traffickers do not fulfill all these prerequisites.”

 Published on 2011-11-19 10:47:02

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=38513

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