Abducted girl called up parents for help

Abducted girl called up parents for help
By: Prawesh Lama Date: 2009-12-18 Place: Delhi

The police have spoken to the accused over phone, yet both the victim and the culprit remain at large

This is a story about a teenage girl who led her parents as well as the police to the people who trafficked her from Siliguri in West Bengal to Delhi.

Ironically, the police have been able to trace the culprits but the 16-year-old is yet to be reunited with her family. The brave teenager called up her parents from Bihar that her abductors were driving her to Delhi in a car with the registration number DL 4C AG 5809.

Scavengers: Sundar Singh (extreme right) with wife Sandhya and driver.
The West Bengal police registered a case on December 2 on the complaint of the girl's parents. Based on the leads given by the girl, the West Bengal police traced the driver of the black Santro car who confirmed that three girls were brought from Siliguri and delivered to Sundar Singh, a resident of Shakarpur in east Delhi.

During the course of investigation, it was established that Sundar Singh -- who runs an automobile business in Delhi -- traffics girls from Siliguri, Darjeeling and New Jalpaiguri and brings them to New Delhi.

He owns a house in Siliguri too which was damaged by locals after his cover was blown following the police complaint by the abducted girls' parents. Interestingly, several photographs of young girls were recovered from Singh's house.

The victim's relatives also visited Shakarpur police station after which the Station House Officer sent the beat officer to Singh's shop, Sundar Motors, at Car Bazar, Main Road, Shakarpur. Sundar in fact has married twice and his first wife told the beat officer that he rarely visits her and stayed at some unknown place in east Delhi with his second wife Sandhya.

Sandhya too has been arrested in similar cases earlier. Following the police raid at his house, Sundar called up the victim's relatives and threatened them not to approach the police again but during one of his calls the family managed to make the beat officer overhear it. When the policeman talked to him on the mobile phone number 9732915486. Singh pleaded with him that he would hand over the girl at Shakarpur police station, however, a fortnight has passed and Singh is still absconding.

Karma Dorjee Yolmo, officer in charge of Jaldhaka police station in West Bengal, raided Sandhya's house in New Ashok Nagar last week. However, she had already vacated the house.

"We could not arrest her, we have to produce the driver and others before the court. We have told our Delhi counterparts that an east Delhi resident is the prime suspect in the case. It is also suspected that the girls whose photographs were recovered from Singh's Siliguri house might have been trafficked too. We hope to arrest him and rescue the girls as soon as possible," Yolmo told MiD DAY.

A senior police official posted at Shakarpur police station said the mobile phone from which Singh called up is being tracked. "We are on Singh's tail and he will be arrested soon."
Importation of Girls
(Sec. 366-B IPC), (Incidence...61)A decrease of 9% has been observed in such cases as 61 cases were reported during 2007 as compared to 67 cases in the previous year (2006).

Only Bihar (56) and West Bengal (5) have reported such cases accounting for 91.8% and 8.2% respectively of total such cases at the national level.

Procuration of Minor Girls
(Sec. 366A IPC), (Incidence...253)253 cases were reported in 2007 as compared to 231 such cases in 2006, accounting for 9.5% increase over 2006.

West Bengal has reported 54 such cases indicating a share of 21.3% at national level followed by Andhra Pradesh (37) and Bihar (36). An increasing trend was observed in these cases during the last three years.
Figures: National Crime Records Bureau

Selling of Girls for Prostitution
(Sec. 372 IPC), (Incidence...69)69 cases of 'Selling of Girls for Prostitution' were reported in the country during 2007 against 123 such cases in 2006, thereby indicating a decline of 43.9% over 2006. West Bengal has accounted for 79.7% (55 cases out of 69 cases) of the total such cases reported in the country.

Reported Incidents of crime
(Incidence...4,087)A total of 4,087 incidents of crimes under various provisions of laws relating to human trafficking were reported in the country during 2007 as compared to 5,096 during 2006 recording a decrease of 19.8% during 2007. 5,850 cases relating to human trafficking were reported during 2003 as compared to 6,175 and 6,402 cases reported in 2004 and 2005.

Set up anti-trafficking cell in every district: Chidambaram

Set up anti-trafficking cell in every district: Chidambaram
December 2nd, 2009 - 11:25 pm ICT by IANS -
New Delhi, Dec 2 (IANS) Home Minister P. Chidambaram Wednesday urged all states in the country to set up anti-human trafficking cells in every district.
“Only nine districts have anti-human trafficking cells. This is out of over 600 districts of the country. So, we have barely scratched the surface of the problem. I would like to urge states to set up anti-human trafficking cells in all districts, network them and coordinate with the home ministry,” said Chidambram.

“This would take time and money, but more than that it requires will,” he added.

He was speaking after releasing a book “Human trafficking - dimensions, challenges and responses” written by a former Central Bureau of Investigation official P.M. Nair.

Nair has handled many cases, including former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, international arms drop in Purulia as well as a number of human right violations and many inter-state and international organised crimes.

“Most countries are slow to wake up to the gravity of the crime….one can’t shift blame from one country to another because women and children are bought and sold within the country.”

“The scale of human trafficking in India is not clear, but it is a fair assumption that it is on a very large scale,” Chidambaram said.

“It is the most grievous and pernicious of crimes. The victims are mostly women and children. There are a variety of reasons for human trafficking but mostly it is sex trade. It is a crime against humanity,” he added.

The home minister said: “He (Nair) has put together a large amount of literature (during his work). This book would prove to be a valuable reference book for people interested in the field of anti-human trafficking, law enforcement officers, NGOs and jurists.”

Priced at Rs.600, the proceeds of the sale of the book will go to the victims of human trafficking.



Read more: http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/set-up-anti-trafficking-cell-in-every-district-chidambaram_100283423.html#ixzz0YaHSC7BY

Housewife gets 7 yrs in jail for pushing minors into flesh trade

Housewife gets 7 yrs in jail for pushing minors into flesh trade
Nitasha Natu, TNN 2 December 2009,
MUMBAI: A 33-year-old married woman from Kandivli has been sentenced to seven years' rigorous imprisonment for pushing minor girls into prostitution. Bharti alias Itee Bodaee was nabbed along with her accomplice, Firoz Siddiqui (32), in May 2009. The duo was booked under the stringent PITA (Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act).

A native of Kolkata, Bodaee worked as a bar dancer for 5 years. But after the state ban on dance bars, she started bringing minor girls from her hometown to Mumbai on the pretext that they would be employed as domestic helps. Bodaee charged the clients anything between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000.

"An NGO called Oasis India tipped off our officers about Bodaee's activities. On May 28, our team raided a footpath near the Kandivli level-crossing and caught Bodaee and Siddiqui," said inspector Subhash Vele. . The officers also rescued four girls, three of them minors. The girls told the investigators that Bodaee had been keeping them captive for the past six months.

On November 30, sessions judge SD Bhate sentenced Bodaee to seven years' rigorous imprisonment and levied a fine of Rs 1,500. If she fails to pay up the fine, she will have to serve another three months' rigorous imprisonment

17 girls rescued from Mumbai

17 girls rescued from Mumbai
TNN 1 December 2009,
HYDERABAD: Fifteen girls from the state, including 12 from East Godavari, two each from Vijayawada, West Godavari and one from Visakhapatnam were rescued from the clutches of human traffickers by West Godavari police and CID with active help from Mumbai Police Enforcement.

The CID also rescued two minor girls hailing from West Bengal during the operation. Deputy inspector general of police, Eluru range, Mahesh M Bhagwat, said eight traffickers were arrested in the raid. The incident came to light when a complainant, Illa Anjiyya of Gavaravaram of Koyyalagudeum (WG district) lodged a complaint with Koyyalagudem police station on Nov 19 stating that his 19-year-old daughter and a 24-year-old housewife were taken away by B Sayamma of the same village on the promise of providing jobs in a hostel for a salary of Rs 2,500 per month along with accommodation.

Based on the complaint, a criminal case was registered at Koyyalagudem PS under various sections of Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act-1956 and an investigation was taken up, the DIG said. A special team visited Mumbai on November 26 and contacted the local officers to conduct searches.

The team visited a prostitution den being run by one Kunkipudi Devi at Dayanand building, Pula Street, in Mumbai and rescued the victims