Hertfordshire man jailed for raping girl in Goa

Hertfordshire man jailed for raping girl in Goa
Barry McCloud Barry McCloud plied the girl with spiked drinks to carry out the attacks

A Hertfordshire man who travelled to India to film himself raping a 10-year-old girl has been sentenced to life in prison.

Barry McCloud, 54, of Tudor Walk, Watford, groomed his victim after befriending her "slum-dwelling" family, St Albans Crown Court heard.

He admitted three rapes and 18 related charges in Goa between 2005 and 2007.

Judge Marie Catterson said McCloud's crimes were "abhorrent". She said he must serve at least seven years.

The court heard the girl had felt unable to report what was happening because McCloud paid for her brother's education.

McCloud and his wife had met the victim's brother while he was selling peanuts at a beach resort in the 1990s.

The child's father was dead and the mother had raised nine children by selling pots and pans.
Drugged mango juice

McCloud's activities came to light in 2007 when police in the UK suspected him of downloading images of child abuse and seized his computer.

Officers found images of the rapes as well as video clips McCloud had taken on a camcorder as he raped and abused the girl, described in court as a "slum dweller".

McCloud continued to visit Goa after splitting up with his wife in 2005, and would tell the girl's brother to bring his sister to his accommodation.

The court heard McCloud gave her mango juiced laced with temazepam, which would leave her unconscious.

Judge Catterson said: "It's clear the victim felt unable to complain about you because of the financial support you were giving her brother."
'Extremely rare'

McCloud also admitted four counts of assault, three of administering a noxious substance so he could engage in sexual activity, and one of sexual assault of a child.

He pleaded guilty to eight charges of taking indecent photographs of the child and two charges relating to the making and possessing of indecent photographs of children.

Christine Beddoe, director of ECPAT UK, a child rights charity which supported the police investigation, said: "Unfortunately the UK has an appalling record in prosecuting British citizens for child sexual abuse overseas and successful cases like this are extremely rare.

"ECPAT UK is calling on the government to introduce a cross-government strategy to deal effectively with sex offenders who abuse children overseas to better protect children in the UK and abroad."

Tamsyn Wilcox, CPS district crown prosecutor, said: "Barry McCloud abused the trust of a family living in extreme poverty in Goa and used his position of trust to gain access to the victim in this case.

"This outcome sends a strong message to those people who think they can sexually abuse children whilst travelling abroad, without facing prosecution."

Trafficking by cheating victims in the name of marriage

विवाहानंतर त्याने विकले ६० पत्नींना..!


सिलिगुडी - पश्चिम बंगालमधील दार्जिलिंग जिल्ह्यात, एका व्यक्तीने चक्क ६० विवाह केले आणि विवाहानंतर थोड्याच काळात तो पत्नीला कुंटणखान्यात विकून टाकत होता. लष्करातील जवान असल्याची बतावणी करून त्याने हे विवाह केले होते. पोलिसांनी त्याला अटक केली आहे.
दार्जिलिंग जिल्ह्याचे पोलिस अधिक्षक देवेंद्रप्रताप सिंह म्हणाले, की विकी ऊर्फ विश्वकर्मा असे या तरुणाचे नाव असून, त्याने विवाहानंतर मुंबई आणि पुण्यातील कुंटणखान्यांमध्ये स्वतःच्या पत्नीची विक्री करत असे. विश्वकर्मा याच्यासह त्याची साथीदार महिलेलाही अटक करण्यात आली आहे.
एका स्वयंसेवी संस्थेतील व्यक्तीने पोलिसांना विश्वकर्मा याची माहिती दिल्यानंतर, पोलिसांनी ही कारवाई केली. सिंह म्हणाले, की त्याची साथीदार महिला, गरीब आणि गरजू महिलेस हेरून तिच्या घरी जात असे आणि विश्वकर्मा हा चांगल्या घराण्यातील तरुण आहे. त्याची सांपत्तिक स्थितीही चांगली आहे. त्याच्याशी विवाह केल्यास कल्याण होईल, अशी बतावणी करत असे. विवाहानंतर तो मुंबई-पुण्याला जाऊन पत्नीला विकून येत असे.

‘लैंगिक व्यापाराला प्रतिबंधासाठी सकारात्मकता दाखवा’

आंध्रचे उपमहानिरीक्षक भागवत यांचे नगरच्या पोलिसांना आवाहन
नगर, २१ नोव्हेंबर/प्रतिनिधी
लैंगिक व्यापारासाठी अल्पवयीन मुलींचा वापर ही मानवी जीवनाला काळे फासणारी घटना आहे. अशा कृत्यांना कधीही पाठिशी घालू नये. थोडी सकारात्मकता दाखवली, तर अशा गुन्ह्य़ांचा शोध घेणे व गुन्हेगारांना शिक्षा होणे हे पोलिसांसाठी सहज शक्य आहे, असे प्रतिपादन मूळचे पाथर्डीचे रहिवासी व सध्या आंध्र प्रदेशात पोलीस उपमहानिरीक्षक म्हणून कार्यरत असलेले आयपीएस अधिकारी महेश भागवत यांनी केले.नक्षलवादी कारवायांमध्ये असामान्य शौर्य दाखवलेले, तसेच लैंगिक व्यापारात गुंतलेल्या आंध्र प्रदेशातील टोळ्यांना जेरबंद करणारे भागवत खासगी कामासाठी पाथर्डीला आले होते. जिल्हाधिकारी डॉ. पी. अन्बलगन यांनी जिल्ह्य़ातील पोलीस अधिकाऱ्यांसाठी नियोजन भवन सभागृहात त्यांचे व्याख्यान आयोजित केले होते. जिल्हा पोलीस अधीक्षक कृष्णप्रकाश, अतिरिक्त जिल्हाधिकारी नानासाहेब बोठे, जिल्हा नियोजन अधिकारी प्रदीप पोतदार, उपजिल्हाधिकारी सुहास मापारी या वेळी व्यासपीठावर उपस्थित होते. भागवत यांनी आंध्र प्रदेशात केलेल्या विविध कारवायांची विस्ताराने माहिती देत पोलिसांना अन्यायग्रस्तांसाठी नेहमीच धावून जाण्याचे आवाहन केले. कायदे सगळे चांगलेच आहेत, मात्र त्याचा व्यवस्थित वापर करून घेण्यात आपणच कमी पडतो, असे आपले निरीक्षण असल्याचे ते म्हणाले. काही कारवायांमध्ये, विशेषत: अंमली पदार्थ किंवा लैंगिक शोषणाच्या गुन्ह्य़ांमध्ये तपास सुरू असतानाच प्रेशर ग्रुप म्हणजे दबाव गट तयार होतात हे खरे आहे. मात्र, त्याला बळी पडण्याचे कारण नाही. थेट वरिष्ठ अधिकाऱ्यांशी बोलून या दबाव गटांचा सामना करता येतो, असे ते म्हणाले.कायद्याने पोलीस, तसेच महसूल अधिकाऱ्यांना अनेक अधिकार दिले आहेत. कला केंद्र, तसेच लॉजवर अल्पवयीन मुलींकडून जबरदस्तीने वेश्याव्यवसाय करून घेतला जात आहे, असे आढळल्यास संबंधित लॉज, कला केद्रांचा परवाना कायमस्वरूपी रद्द करण्याचे अधिकार प्रांत स्तरावर आहेत. मात्र, पोलिसांनी तसा प्रस्ताव तयार करून प्रांत कार्यालयाकडे पाठवला पाहिजे. नेमक्या याच गोष्टी होत नाहीत व एकाच लॉजवर वारंवार छापा टाकल्याच्या बातम्या येत राहतात. पोलीस व प्रशासनाने काही गोष्टी हातात हात घालून समन्वयाने केल्या तर गुन्हेगारीला आळा घालणे मुळीच अवघड नाही, असे भागवत यांनी सांगितले.लैंगिक व्यापारात गुंतलेल्या गुन्हेगारांवर कारवाई झाली, तरी त्यातील अत्याचारित मुलींच्या पुनर्वसनाचा मोठा प्रश्न निर्माण होतो. ते काही आमचे काम नाही, असे न म्हणता पोलीसही त्यात सहभागी झाले तर फार मोठा परिणाम होतो, अत्याचारग्रस्तांना मानसिक उभारी मिळते, असे स्पष्ट करून भागवत यांनी त्यांना आंध्र प्रदेशात केलेल्या कामांची माहिती दिली. परदेशातील, तसेच परराज्यांतील मुलींना यशस्वीपणे त्यांच्या मूळच्या घरी पाठवून त्यांचे पुनर्वसन केलेली अनेक उदाहरणे त्यांनी दिली. या कामासाठी भागवत यांना राष्ट्रीय, तसेच आंतरराष्ट्रीय पुरस्कारही मिळाले आहेत.लैंगिक अत्याचार विरोधी कायद्यातील अनेक कलमांची भागवत यांनी माहिती दिली व त्याचा प्रभावीपणे कसा वापर करता येतो तेही स्पष्ट केले. आपल्या विविध कामांच्या चित्रपारदर्शिकाही त्यांनी दाखवल्या. गुन्हेगाराला कडक शिक्षा होईल याच आत्मविश्वासाने पोलिसांनी काम करावे. तसे होत नाही व त्यामुळेच आमचे काही बिघडत नाही असा उद्दामपणा गुन्हेगारांमध्ये येतो. शिक्षेची जरब बसली, तर मात्र गुन्हा करताना त्यांना शंभरवेळा विचार करावा लागेल, असे भागवत म्हणाले. काही पोलीस अधिकाऱ्यांच्या शंकांनाही त्यांनी उत्तरे दिली.कृष्णप्रकाश यांनी भागवत यांच्या कामाची मुक्तकंठाने स्तुती करीत जिल्ह्यातील अधिकाऱ्यांनी त्यातून प्रेरणा घ्यावी, असे आवाहन केले. जिल्ह्य़ात गेल्या काही महिन्यांत कारवाई केलेल्या अशा प्रकारच्या गुन्ह्य़ांची त्यांनी माहिती दिली. कायद्याचा व्यवस्थित वापर हेच पोलिसांच्या कामाचे मुख्य सूत्र आहे, असे ते म्हणाले. डॉ. अन्बलगन म्हणाले, जिल्ह्य़ातून अनेक राज्यांच्या मालमोटारींची ये-जा सातत्याने सुरू असते. १० ते १२ माणसे बसू शकतील अशा ढाब्यांवर रोज ५०पेक्षा अधिक मालमोटारी लागलेल्या असतात. लहानसेच गाव असते, मात्र तिथे एकापेक्षा अधिक लॉज असतात. ही गुन्हेगारीची केंद्र असताना त्याकडे पोलिसांचे हवे तसे लक्ष नसते. अतिरिक्त जिल्हाधिकारी बोठे यांनी आभार मानले.
अत्याचारग्रस्तांसाठी विशेष कक्ष - डॉ. अन्बलगनआपण आल्यापासून एकाही कलाकेंद्राला परवानगी दिली नसल्याचे डॉ. अन्बलगन यांनी सांगितले. एका प्रकरणात आपल्याला संबंधितांनी समुद्रगुप्तापासूनच्या इतिहासाचा हवाला देत परवानगी द्या म्हणून दबाव आणला होता, अशी माहिती देत आपण परवानगी तर नाकारलीच, पण त्याला चंद्रगुप्त मौर्यापासूनच्या इतिहासाचीही माहिती दिली, असे ते म्हणाले. जिल्ह्य़ात लवकरच अशा प्रकारच्या अत्याचारात सापडलेल्यांसाठी एक विशेष स्वरूपाचा कक्ष सुरू करीत आहोत. त्यासाठी स्नेहालयसारख्या प्रकल्पांची मदत घेतली जाईल, असे त्यांनी जाहीर केले.

Closure of brothel at Bhusaval in Maharashtra

वैतागवाडीत होणार पिटाअंतर्गत कारवाई सकाळ वृत्तसेवा Friday, October 29, 2010 AT 04:58 PM (IST) भुसावळ - येथील वैतगवाडीत अनैतिक व्यापार प्रतिबंधात्मक कायद्यानुसार उद्या (ता.30) कारवाईची शक्‍यता आहे. यासंदर्भात जिल्हाधिकारी कार्यालयामार्फत पोलिस प्रशासनाला सूचना देण्यात आल्या आहेत. त्यानुसार अनैतिक देहव्यापार चालणाऱ्या घरांना थेट सील ठोकण्यात येईल. पिटा अर्थात अनैतिक व्यापार प्रतिबंधात्मक कायद्यानुसार भुसावळात होणारी ही पहिलीच कारवाई आहे. आज जिल्हा प्रशासनाकडून बाजारपेठ पोलिसांना यासंदर्भात लेखी सूचना करण्यात आल्या. त्यानुसार पोलिसांनी वैतागवाडीतील पाच घरमालकांना नोटीस बजावली आहे

Proper Implementation of Women's Law sought

‘पुनर्वसन झाल्यास देहव्यापारातील महिलांचे भविष्य सुरक्षित बनेल’

नगर, २९ सप्टेंबर/प्रतिनिधीपुनर्वसन झाल्यास देहव्यापारातील शोषित महिलांचे भविष्य सुरक्षित बनू शके ल, असे मत जिल्हा पोलीस अधीक्षक कृष्णप्रकाश यांनी व्यक्त केले. स्नेहालयने आयोजित केलेल्या जिल्ह्य़ातील शरीरविक्रय करणाऱ्या महिलांच्या मेळाव्यात ते बोलत होते.
गेल्या काही महिन्यांत जिल्ह्य़ातील अनेक कुंटणखान्यांवर पोलिसांनी घातलेल्या छाप्यांमुळे अनैतिक मानवी व्यापाराला मोठा आळा बसला आहे. मात्र, त्यामुळे देहव्यापारातील महिलांच्या चरितार्थाचा मोठा प्रश्न उभा राहिला आहे. या संदर्भात हा मेळावा घेण्यात आला. त्याचा समारोप कृष्णप्रकाश यांच्या उपस्थितीत झाला. स्नेहालयचे विश्वस्त श्याम असावा, मिलिंद कुलकर्णी, मीनाताई िशदे या वेळी व्यासपीठावर उपस्थित होते.  महिलांनी आपल्या समस्या मांडल्या. पुनर्वसनासाठी आंध्रप्रदेशात हक्काची जागा आणि रोजगार प्रशासनाकडून दिला जातो. महाराष्ट्रात मात्र सरकारने एक चौरस फूट जागा किंवा एक रुपयाचे अनुदानही दिलेले नाही, असे शेवगावच्या स्नेहज्योत प्रकल्पाच्या संघटक जया जोगदंड म्हणाल्या. श्रीरामपूर येथील सुनीता उनवणे म्हणाल्या, पुनर्वसनाचा कोणताही पर्याय समोर नसल्याने पोलीस कारवाई होताच महिलांना घरे-दारे सोडून परजिल्ह्य़ात पळून जावे लागते. आम्ही गाव सोडावे की धंदा, हे पोलीस अधीक्षकांनी सांगावे. बहुतांशी महिला कर्जबाजारी झाल्या असून अनेकजणींना उपचार अर्धवट सोडावे लागले आहेत, असे नगरच्या सुमन त्रिभुवन यांनी सांगितले.
कृष्णप्रकाश म्हणाले, उपजिविकेसाठी स्वत:चे शरीर विकणे हा गुन्हा नसला, तरी कुंटणखाने चालवणे, तसेच दुसऱ्या महिलांची कमाई खाणे हे अनैतिक मानवी वाहतूक कायद्यानुसार गंभीर गुन्हे आहेत. विविध ‘अर्थ’पूर्ण कारणांमुळे आजवर या धंद्यातील खऱ्या गुन्हेगारांवर कारवाई होत नव्हती. ही कारवाई सुरूच राहिल. त्यामुळे या धंद्यातील महिलांनी धाडस करून पुनर्वसनाचा पर्याय स्वीकारावा. या संदर्भात स्नेहालयचा पुढाकार ऐतिहासिक महत्त्वाचा आहे.  पुनर्वसनासाठी शेती, दुग्ध व्यवसाय, हस्तकला या रोजगारक्षम उद्योगांसाठी सरकारने किमान ६७ हेक्टर पडीक जमीन संस्थेला द्यावी, असा ठराव महिलांनी केला. जागा मिळाल्यास पुनर्वसनाचा पथदर्शी प्रकल्प स्नेहालय उभारेल, असे स्नेहज्योतचे समन्वयक प्रवीण मुत्याल यांनी सांगितले.      

स्नेहालय पुनर्वसन प्रकल्पात मोफत जागा
पुनर्वसनासाठी स्नेहालयने ठोस पुढाकार घेतला आहे. ज्या महिला लालबत्ती भागातून स्नेहालय प्रकल्पात राहण्यासाठी येतील, त्यांना प्रत्येकी १ हजार चौरस फूट जागा संस्था पुनर्वसन संकुलात देईल. वीज, पाणी व रोजगाराचे साधन संस्था पुरवेल. भोजन, औषधोपचाराचा खर्चही केला जाईल. सलग ३ महिने राहणाऱ्या महिलांना ही जागा करार करून मोफत दिली जाईल, असे मिलिंद कुलकर्णी यांनी जाहीर केले. पहिल्या टप्प्यात ४० महिलांना त्यांच्या मुलाबाळांसह पुनर्वसित करण्याचा मानस आहे, असे संस्थेचे उपसंचालक अंबादास चव्हाण यांनी सांगितले. कृष्णप्रकाश यांच्या हस्ते मालन गोरे व मीना पाठक यांना २ भूखंड प्रदान करून प्रकल्पाला सुरुवातही करण्यात आली.

Woman from Nuzvid rescued in New Delhi Brothel on GB Road

Child trafficking still continues

THE HINDU
Date:25/09/2010

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Child trafficking still continues

Staff Reporter
BERHAMPUR: Trafficking of children, including girls, to the states outside Orissa from its Kandhamal district is continuing.
Timely intervention of police and social activists could save 41 of them from getting transported to states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala. On Monday night 13 minor girls, 14 boys and two girls were rescued by a police patrol team in Gajalbadi area of Sorada block in Ganajm district. An agent was taking them to Berhampur railway station so that they could be transported to Tamil Nadu. All of them were from remote villages in Tumudibadh and Kotgarh areas of Kandhmal district.
The Childline in Berhampur received the information from sources that these children were to be transported via Berhampur railway station. So, with help of police plans were made to trace the children on their way to Berhampur.
According to project director of ‘Childline' in Berhampur, Sudhir Sabat, on Wednesday the police in Baliguda in Kandhamal district on a tip off prevented 12 girls from getting transported to Kerala.
It may be noted five girls from Daringbadi in Kandhamal district were rescued from Berhampur railway station in April by railway police while they were being transported outside Orissa. In January 12 minor girls from the same area in Kandhamal district were rescued in Andhra Pradesh while they were being transported to Tamil Nadu.
Transit point
Mr. Sabat said Berhampur was fast turning out to be a major transit point of child trafficking. Children from poor families in remote areas of Ganjam, Gajapati and Kandhamal districts are being brought to the city to be sent outside the State. He demanded better coordination between police, social activists and railway authorities to check this trafficking.

Closure of srinivasa Lodge Ravulapalam under Immoral traffic Prevention act 1956

On the orders issued by Revenue Divisional Officer Smt. B. Lavanya Veni of Amlapuram sub division, on 14/09/2010, Sub Divisional Police officer Amlapuram Mr. gangadhar, CI Ravulapalam Mr. Muralikrishna & others has closed Srinivasa Lodge  using provision of Section 18 (1) of Immoral traffic Prevention act, 1956 for carrying out organized prostitution.

7 women rescued from prostitution racket; 3 pimps held

 Sun, Sep 5 11:05 PM

Chennai, Sep 5 (PTI) Seven women hailing from Andhra Pradesh and Mumbai, forced into prostitution after being promised a career in films, were rescued by police and three alleged pimps arrested here today. The women were allegedly cheated by three pimps saying they would be given an opportunity to act in movies. But they were forced into prostitution, police said. Acting on a tip-off, police rescued the women from lodges in Periamet area during a surprise raid, an official statement here said. Three alleged pimps -- Philip Thomas (50) and Joshi Joseph (36) of Mumbai and 35-year-old Sreenivasa Rao from Andhra Pradesh, who allegedly forced these women into prostitution were arrested and remanded to judicial custody. Further investigation was on, the statement said adding that the women were sent to a government home.

Kingpin in trafficking case sent to custody

THE HINDU
Date:21/08/2010

Andhra Pradesh - Rajahmundry
RAJAHMUNDRY: Abdul Hamid Omar Abba (50), the kingpin in girl trafficking to Dubai and who was deported to India on August 3 was sent to three days police custody by a Kakinada court. With his arrest the Eluru police hopes to crack down on agents involved in trafficking in the district and other southern States. The issue came to light when two sisters lodged a complaint with the Mandapeta police station of East Godavari about girl trafficking by two locals and others from Chennai, Vellore, according to the DIG, Eluru Range, Mahesh M. Bhagawat.

Cases booked against children's home organisers

THE HINDU
Date:19/08/2010
Andhra Pradesh

TIRUVURU: The police registered cases against two organisers of ‘Nee Rakshana', a private children's home, on Wednesday, following the intervention of local people who brought to light that the home was being run without authorisation.
The police booked cases under Sections 343 (wrongful confinement of children), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 363 (kidnapping) against L. Venkateswara Rao and R. Swaroopa Rani on the basis of a complaint lodged by a supervisor of ICDS. The three children, who were left in the home by the organisers who shifted other children to Hyderabad, were handed over to the Child Welfare Committee. The police said efforts were on to find out the remaining children and special teams were formed to trace the absconding organisers of the home.

THE HINDU
Date:17/08/2010
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andhra Pradesh - Eluru
Piquant situation for victims of women trafficking

G. Nagaraja

ELURU: For more than half-a-dozen victims of women trafficking from East and West Godavari districts, reaching back home appears not as easy as their release from flesh trade, thanks to fake claims over their parenthood.

The victims are languishing in a rescue home in Chennai, eagerly waiting for a reunion with their families for over six months ever since their rescue from a brothel by the Chennai police. The fake claims allegedly raised by some traffickers over their parenthood, in a bid to get them back into flesh trade, reportedly makes it difficult for the court in Chennai trying their cases to find their biological parents and send them back home. The court had entrusted the responsibility to a Chennai-based NGO, Just Trust. The NGO, in turn, contacted M.M. Bhagawat, DIG of Police, Eluru range, for help in cross-checking the claims. Mr. Bhagawat said all seven victims were trafficked to Malaysia and Singapore for flesh trade from the twin Godavari districts.

One such victim was a woman from Annadevarapet under the Tallapudi police station. Her links with her parents were established by the district police basing on a complaint of ‘woman missing' reported in the Tallapudi police station on December 24, 2009. Expressing serious concern over the increasing incidence of women trafficking cases in the two districts, the DIG said a request was placed before the Collector for timely relief and early rehabilitation of the victims as such measures would wean them away from flesh trade

Sordid tale of slavery victim - National News

Sordid tBeaten, whipped and deprived of contact with the outside world, an Indian teenager has painfully recalled how she endured a year and a half of hell being forced to work as a prostitute in Dubai brothels.
The 18-year-old, who asked to remain anonymous, came to the UAE believing she was to be employed as a maid to support her family after her father died, told 7DAYS she thought she would die in one of the seedy sex dens.
“I was beaten regularly with a mobile chord and locked up inside flats. I was never allowed to speak to my family or go out. I was abused all the time. It was hell,” she said.
The teen had paid dhs5,000 to an agent in India who promised her a reputable job in the UAE.
“The agent looked like a good man. I trusted him blindly and gave him the money hoping that he would get me the job. Instead he handed over me to the agents who ran a sex racket. I was devastated.”
The young victim said she was met by two men and a woman at Dubai International Airport upon her arrival in the country and taken to a flat in Bur Dubai where around ten other young girls were also being held captive along with her cousin.
“I was put up at a place in Bur Dubai to start with but was later shifted to a flat near fish roundabout in Deira. It was a dingy flat with no ventilation. I was locked up there along with other prisoners,” she said.
“We were never allowed to go outside alone. Someone always used to accompany us and he would keep a close watch on what we were doing. “If we resisted their instructions they would abuse and beat us.
“It was so terribly harrowing.”
She was not allowed any contact with her family back in India during the 18 months she was trapped in the brothels and was deprived of food by her captors.
“Whenever I tried to contact my family they used to snatch away the phone. They would abuse and beat me up. None of my family knew what was happening. I felt like I was dying every day,” the girl added.
The teen was only freed from the hell-hole after a raid on one of the brothels by Dubai Police back in March. Her mother had been worried sick after having no contact with her daughter for a year and a half but the pair were finally reunited after she landed at Hyderabad airport earlier this year.
“I was so shocked to hear of what happened to her. We are really struggling to return to a normal way of life after this,” her mother said.
The young victim spoke of her trauma after Indian police arrested the alleged kingpin of the traffickers at Mumbai airport last Wednesday.
Mahesh Bhagawat, deputy inspector general of police for the Eluru range in Andhra Pradesh, said that the women being held by the traffickers were forced to entertain between ten and 15 customers a day. “They were harassed physically and forced into prostitution. The women were all aged 17 to 20 years old,” he said.
The young girl who hails from a remote village in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh is now trying to start her life afresh.
She has got a job at a shop in Hyderabad and is hoping she can forget what has happened and take care of her family.
“My only concern at the moment is to get my two younger sisters married and see them live happily,” she said.
“What happened to me should not happen to anyone else.”
RINGLEADER SNAREDThe alleged kingpin of the human trafficking ring has been arrested on suspicion of rape.
Abdul Hamid Omar Abba, 50, was detained by cops at Mumbai airport last week for allegedly assaulting the 18-year-old woman who he forced to work as a prostitute in Dubai.
Two other men involved in the sick trade have also been arrested in India.
Five further people are still being hunted by officers, including one woman, who was among those who met the teen at Dubai International Airport and transported her to the brothels.
Indian police said Abba used to live in Bur Dubai and worked as a taxi driver. He is thought to have worked with various agents to bring the women to Dubai to work in the sex trade.
“We are coordinating with the Indian embassy in the UAE to arrest the remaining culprits with the help of Dubai Police and bring them to India. This is a huge and serious racket which has been going on for years,” said Mahesh Bhagawat, deputy inspector general of police for the Eluru range in Andhra Pradesh.
Police say Abba would take dhs5,000 from women who believed they were paying a recruitment company to get a reputable job in the UAE.
He then produced fake birth certificates for the girls to show that they were 30 years old so that they could get visas to work as domestic help.STRIDES TAKEN TO TACKLE THE SORDID GANGSThe UAE has been working to bag traffickers who blight the streets of the Emirates.
The number of human trafficking cases taken to court in 2009 more than doubled from the previous year, according to the annual report from the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking in the UAE, which was released in May.
The report showed that 43 cases went before the courts in 2009, which involved 86 trafficking victims.
In those cases a total of 125 defendants were prosecuted, and 35 of the 43 cases ended in conviction.
Of those, 21 occurred in Dubai. Fifteen cases were recorded in Sharjah and the Northern Emirates, and seven took place in Abu Dhabi.
In one of the most severe incidents, the Criminal Court in Abu Dhabi sentenced seven men to life in prison - the harshest penalty possible - for running the emirate’s largest known human-trafficking ring.
“For the majority of trafficked persons, it is only when they arrive in the UAE that they realise that the work they are promised does not exist and they are forced instead to get employment in jobs or conditions to which they did not give their consent,” the report said.
fareed.rahman@7days.ae ale of slavery victim - National News

Woman trafficker arrested at Mumbai, brought to Kakinada [14827]

Woman trafficker arrested at Mumbai, brought to Kakinada [14827]
Kakinada, Aug 5 : A special team of East Godavari police deputed by the SP Ghattamaneni Srinivas, has arrested the kingpin of woman trafficking racket Abdul Hamid Omar Abba (50), at Mumbai, and brought him to Kakinada, by flight today.
The team was sent following a communication received from the Mumbai airport immigration authorities on detaining the woman trafficker. He will be produced before the court at Mandapet tomorrow. He is wanted by the police in woman trafficking cases but escaping the police dragnet for the past few months. Two of his local sub agents were already arrested. The Bangalore, based Abba, has lured several young girls of lucrative employment at Dubai, but in reality sold them to gulf agents for landing them into flesh trade. The whole racket came to light only after a woman from Mandapet lodged a complaint after escaping from a brothel house in Dubai, during March this year.' police said.
--UNI

Five held on charge of trafficking in women

THE HINDU
5/08/2010

Staff Reporter

ELURU: A special team led by Kovvuru DSP G. Janaki Sharmila busted a five-member gang allegedly thriving on women trafficking and rescued four persons, including a minor girl. The victims hailed from Rajahmundry, Kovvuru, Tanuku and Vijayawada.
According to M.M. Bhagawath, DIG of Police, Eluru Range, a couple of financiers – Yesu and Muttaiah – based in Tanuku were also arrested on the charge of financing the illegal activity.
They allegedly lent money on interest to Grandhi Naresh, also from Tanuku, for carrying on the activity.
The DIG said that three cases of a similar nature were registered against Naresh in the past.
The police arrested the accused at Nidadavole railway station while they were allegedly transporting the victims to Bangalore and Rayachore.

At large
Another main accused Ravi of Bangalore was at large, the DIG said.

Kingpin in woman trafficking nabbed

Kingpin in woman trafficking nabbed


Kakinada
Wednesday, Aug 4 2010 IST
A special team of East Godavari Police left for Mumbai today following the receipt of communication from the airport authorities there on the detaining the prime accused in the women trafficking case pertaining to Mandapet registered during March this year. Police sources said the accused Bangalore-based Abdul Hamid Omar Abba, was running a racket luring young girls on the promise of providing employment in Gulf countries but actually engaged them in flesh trade there. ''He was operating the clandestine business through two of his agents at Mandapet for quite some time. ''The entire episode came to light when one of the girls, who languished in brothel houses in Dubai for two years, lodged a complaint with Mandapet Police on her return home after undergoing an ordeal.'' Based on her complaint, the police arrested two local agents on March 7 and also sent special team to Bangalore to arrest Abba. However Abba gave a slip to the Andhra Police and had been at large since then. The East Godavari Police declared him as a 'wanted' and communicated to the Immigration Authorities with a request to detain him, the sources added

10 more brothels being closed

THE HINDU
Date:25/07/2010
Andhra Pradesh - Eluru
Drive against trafficking of women

2 RDOs order closure of brothel houses

ELURU: Kovvuru and Eluru Revenue Divisional Officers—D.V. Ramana Reddy and V.R.K. Prabhakara Rao—on Saturday issued orders under the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act (PITA) for closure of 10 brothel houses in their revenue divisions in their capacity as the Divisional Executive Magistrates. The dens were reportedly included a lodge and a beauty parlour in Tanuku.
The police approached the RDOs with a request to exercise their powers under the PITA as part of the on-going drive against the trafficking of women.
The RDOs directed the operators of the brothel houses to vacate the dens and free them of sex trade within a week.
The PITA was invoked by the RDOs after a series of raids on these dens by the police hardly had any impact on the sex trade. Kovvuru DSP G. Janaki Sharmila said the police had foisted 26 cases against traffickers, arrested 103 persons accused of indulging in sex trade and rescued 126 victims in her police sub division in the last one year

India is a World Hub in Human Trafficking - International - Catholic Online

India is a World Hub in Human Trafficking - International - Catholic Online

3 women rescued from flesh trade by CB-CID - Hindustan Times

3 women rescued from flesh trade by CB-CID - Hindustan Times

Flesh trade racket busted

THE HINDU
Flesh trade racket busted
Friday, Jun 25, 2010




Staff Reporter 17 sex workers, including 2 foreigners, rescued
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Raided places include Fortune Katriya and Kens hotels at Punjagutta and Srinagar Colony
Rescued sex workers hail from Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata and rural Andhra Pradesh
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HYDERABAD: The city police on Thursday cracked the whip on flesh trade being organised by procuring sex workers from different parts of the country and abroad and raided different places in the city.
While 16 alleged pimps were arrested, 17 sex workers - including two foreigners - were rescued during the raids conducted by the Commissioner's Task Force officials. The raids revealed that flesh trade was being organised in rented flats, independent houses and even reputed hotels. Among the raided places were Fortune Katriya and Kens hotels at Punjagutta and Srinagar Colony, respectively, the police said. One of the pimps brought a sex worker from Morocco and was allegedly arranging meetings at Fortune Katriya hotel. Another brothel operator brought a noted model from Kolkata to city and provided accommodation to her in Kens hotel.
In other cases, it was found that brothel operators hired flats or independent houses in posh localities of west, north and central zones in the city offering high rents to the house owners through rental agencies.
The rescued hailed from Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, and Bheemavaram, Vizianagaram, Anantapur, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Karimnagar in Andhra Pradesh.

TV9 video on closure of brothels in Peddapuram of east Godavari district

18 RCC buildings used for Commercial and sexual exploitation are closed by Sub Divisional Magistrates in East, West Godavari & Krishna District based on Police report for 1 year along with eviction of offenders.

How an Andhra cop became a global anti-trafficking hero

How an Andhra cop became a global anti-trafficking hero


Bombay News.Net

Friday 18th June, 2010 (IANS)

An Andhra Pradesh policeman, who has just been named by the US among nine anti-trafficking heroes worldwide, says a victim-centric approach, roping in NGOs and strict implementation of laws, are behind his success.
'We adopted a victim-centric approach which helped us secure the convictions of 85 traffickers during the last one and a half years. They were sentenced to four to 14 years in jail. This is a benchmark set by Andhra Pradesh. Nowhere in India was such a high conviction rate achieved,' Inspector General of Police Sattaru Umapathi, 57, told IANS in an exclusive interview.
The Hyderabad-based anti-human trafficking nodal officer of the state who led numerous operations across India to rescue victims of human trafficking was named in the Trafficking in Persons Report 2010 released in Washington Monday.
Umapathi is the first Indian government official to get this honour for going beyond the state's borders to rescue victims as per the anti-trafficking protocols of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
He was the first to take the initiative in 2005 when he was in the Andhra Pradesh Police Academy. He held a workshop to create awareness and train 5,000 officers in anti-trafficking.
'Treating a victim as a victim and not as an accused was the biggest attitudinal change brought about during the training. Earlier, we were filing chargesheets against the victims, making them accused,' he said.
'Judicial colloquium, public interactions were held and public prosecutors were also trained. We achieved a synergy. Everybody understood his role. Police, prosecution, judiciary, women and child welfare department and NGOs worked together,' he said.
'Implementation of stringent laws was another key measure. Since a minor can't give her consent, we booked the accused for gang rape in addition to various sections of Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act,' he said.
He said they took their exercise to other parts of the country, something which had never happened earlier.

'We started inter-state rescues under the UNODC protocols. The whole exercise was victim-centric and aimed at seeing that the trafficker was punished,' he said.
'We also developed nodal NGO concept. In cities like Pune, Mumbai, Delhi and other places, we took the help of local NGOs in raids and in conducting trials. The NGOs also helped us in segregation of victims from the accused, counselling the victims and in their rehabilitation,' he said.
'We conduct raids after talking to the victims. The victim is supported from raid to the trial and at the post-trial stage. The NGOs take care of the victim's needs and court processes. Then there is government support. The women and child welfare department is paying Rs.10,000 towards interim relief for each victim after rescue,' explained the officer.
Since 2007, about 2,000 victims, including 200 minors, were rescued during raids in Andhra Pradesh and other parts in India. About 4,000 traffickers and other exploiters were arrested.
'I have been the nodal officer for anti-trafficking since May 2006. A long tenure is also important because if you start something and go back, others may not take it up that vigorously. But now the whole process is institutionalised. We officially have anti-human trafficking units. Whoever comes and sits here has to do it,' he said.
Umapathi is a professional trainer for Indian Police Service officers in India, having been trained in the leadership module by the Department for International Development in Britain in 2003. He also won the Indian police medal in 1996 and the president's police medal for distinguished services in 2008.
As the annual report of the US state department placed India on its tier-2 watch list for the seventh consecutive year, the officer feels 'for a big country like ours, more measures are required'.
'We have to perform a little better. It is a big nation and we are not able to come up to international standards,' he said.

Brothel owner held at Samalkot

Kakinada, Feb 12th: Two minor girls of the city escaped from a brothel at Samalkot on Friday. With the help of an auto-rickshaw driver, the girls reached Samalkot police station. The police took the brothel’s organiser into custody. According to the girls aged around 14 years, a few days ago, a woman Devi from Kattipudi in East Godavari approached the girls’ parents, residents of Kakinada II Town. Devi asked the parents to send the girls along with her and promised them that she would show some work to the girls somewhere in the district. The parents agreed and sent the girls with Devi who sold the girls to the brothel organiser, Vemagiri Missamma, who is living in a Rajiv Gruhakalpa house at Samalkot.


For the last six days, Missamma started pestering the girls to join her work with a person in Hyderabad. The girls refused to do so. On Friday morning, the girls escaped from the house and met an auto-rickshaw driver, G Veeranna. With his help, the girls met the district Congress secretary, Mr U. John Moses, who took them to the police station. Police immediately raided the house and took two women, P. Lakshmi and Devi into custody initially and launched an investigation. Speaking to reporters, the girls said that Missamma was planning to send them to Chennai and Hyderabad for sex work.

Fund for victims of trafficking urged

THE HINDU
Date:12/06/2010
Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: We need a ‘victim support fund' to protect victims of trafficking and encourage them to testify against traffickers, S. Umapathy, the State's Additional Anti-Trafficking Nodal Officer said on Friday. "The police have begun to heed victims of trafficking as victims rather than perpetrators,” he said.

“Those in law enforcement have realised that this is the last resort for the poor and helpless.” Mr. Umapathy was speaking at a national workshop on ‘Public Private Partnerships to combat Human Trafficking' by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). “There all kinds of trafficking, from bonded labour to sex trade to using people as guinea pigs for medical experiments too,” he said. “Rescuing people, particularly young girls, is only part of the problem.

Rehabilitating them is the real challenge.” Given the acute shortage of counsellors, he said the victim's trauma often goes unaddressed.
Alternate job opportunities formed an integral part of the discussions. “Every single person is employable and capable of learning a set of skills,” S.J. Amalan, Regional Director for Apprenticeship Training said.
“Only 7 per cent of our work force is well educated.

9 Brothels closed and offenders evicted in Eluru range

Using the provision of Section 18 (1) of Immoral Traffic Prevention Act 1986 & based on the representation by Sub Divisional Police Officer Peddapuram Sri Ch. Harshvardhan Rao, Revenue Divisional Officer of Peddapuram Divison Mr. K. Nataraju has issued orders for closure of 6 brothels for 1 year and eviction of organizers on the ground that prostitution is carried on. Peddapuram Town of East Godavari District is ill famous for the age old brothel based prostitution and for the first time we have used the provision of Immoral Traffic act, 1986 for eviction and closing down the brothels. On 22/5/2010 RDO Peddapuram issued show cause notices for closing down the premises used for running the brothel and evicting the offenders adjourning the matter to 5th June, 2010. Finally on 5th June, 2010 vide M.C. No.3/2010,5/2010, 11/2010, 16/2010, 18/2010, 19/2010 RDO Mr. Natraju issued the final orders. Organizers are also warned that they should not organize the prostitution or carry on the prostitution here after anywhere in and around the area where they are going to reside.
Organizers were carrying out prostitution by luring innocent women for years together and faced raids by Police on these brothels but were reluctant to give up the profession. District administration and Women & Child development Department are taking care for rehabilitation of victims rescued from these brothels.


I appreciate Sub Divisional Magistrate / RDO Peddapuram Mr. K. Natarju, District Collector of East Godavari Mr. Ravi Chandra Muddada IAS, Sub Divisional Police Officer/DSP Peddapuram Mr.Ch. Harshvardhan Rao, Superintendent of Police of east Godavari Mr. G. Srinivas IPS for their sincere efforts.

This is 3rd initiative in last 2 months by Eluru Range Police. In the last Month RDO Kakinada closed down 2 Lodges for 1 year used for organized prostitution at Pithapuram of East Godavari District. On 27/4/2010 based on report of DSP Narsapur Mr.Ravi Varma, RDO Narsapur Sri. S. Venkata Subbaiah vide M.C. No.6/2010/A issued closure order for 6 months of a Brothel House located in heart of Bhimavaram Town of West Godavari District. Police & revenue Department together in synergy with other stake holders can definitely stop the human trafficking by working on the principle of 3R’s Rescue, Rehabilitation, Reintegration & 3P’s Prevention, Protection, Prosecution.

According to Provision of Section 18 (3) of ITP, Act 1986 orders issued by Executive Magistrate according to Section 18 (1) for closure of brothels & eviction of offenders from Premises shall not be subject to appeal and shall not be stayed or set aside by the order of any court, civil or criminal.

Towards empowerment of women and children

Date:29/05/2010
Andhra Pradesh - Eluru

Towards empowerment of women and children
Staff Reporter
SPEWC, a district-level statutory body, launched
Integrated Child Protection Scheme also launched
Collector highlights need to focus on trafficking
ELURU: The Society for Protection and Empowerment of Women and Children (SPEWC) was launched here on Friday as a district-level statutory body to address issues concerning women and children and to strive for their empowerment. It would function as an arm of the State-level body – Andhra Pradesh Society for Protection and Empowerment of Women.

Objective

An Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS), another forum to focus on the plight of children, was also launched on the same platform.
K. Raghava Rao, Project Director, Women and Child Welfare Department, who is member-convener of the district-level body, said the society would strive to promote gender equity, provide vulnerable women and children access to quality services and opportunities for building an equitable society through convergence and partnership.
Domestic violence
Collector A. Vani Prasad would act as Chairperson and Superintendent of Police C. Ravi Varma as vice-chairperson of the society.Speaking at a function in this connection, the Collector said the emergence of the SPEWC and the ICPS had become necessitated in the wake of increasing incidence of domestic violence.Some 10,000 cases of dowry harassment are reported in the State every year. The incidence of infanticide and foeticide is on the higher side. The female dropout rate is on the rise and the number of cases of women and girls subjected to trafficking is growing. The Collector highlighted the need for society to focus on trafficking in women and children and usurious activities of micro finance activities, subjecting SHG women to exploitation and harassment in the district.
M.M. Bhagawath, DIG of Police, Eluru range, called for an integrated approach with all stakeholders to handle the complex problems of trafficking and child abuse, and said it could be possible only through bodies like the SPEWC.
Citing an instance wherein Narsapur Revenue Divisional Officer S. Venkatamaiah had closed down a brothel in Bhimavaram for six months by exercising his powers under the Immoral Trafficking Act, the DIG called upon the revenue officers to act in a similar manner in their capacity as executive magistrates and cooperate with the police in combating the proliferating incidence of women trafficking in the district. SP C. Ravi Varma also spoke

Singapore based sex trade busted

Singapore based sex trade busted


May 25 2010

Hyderabad, May 24: The state police have busted human trafficking and sex racket gang that would operate from Tamil Nadu and Singapore and arrested six persons.

A case against three Singapore-based racketeers has been registered and the police have decided to seek a red corner notice from Interpol.

The gang members who were arrested from Chennai, Hyderabad, Khammam and West and East Godavari were sending girls to Singapore on two-month tourist visas where they would be forced into prostitution.

The cops also rescued a 15-year-old girl of Tanuku in West Godavari district in an operation and registered a case against one of the gang members.

The accused has confessed that they have sent five girls to Singapore on the pretext of providing them with jobs. They were sent as relatives of the three accused gang members in Singapore.

During investigations, the Kovvur police identified 12 persons, P. Aruna Kumari (19) of Khammam, R. Santhi Kumari of East Godavari, A. Jagadish (31) of Vijayawada, Govinda Swamy Murugandanadam (28) of Chettiyar and Satyaveni, the wife of Murugan of Tamil Nadu, G. Krishna of Hyderabad and B. Purushottam Kumar of East Godavari, Rambabu of West Godavari and K. Satyanarayana of Rajahmundry.

A case has been booked against Maran, Kumar and Kannan of Singapore.

The Eluru Range DIG, Mr Mahesh Muralidhar Bhagawat, said, “Aruna Kumari used to send girls to Chennai with the help of the other accused. They promised the girls decent jobs in Singapore as maids.”

One of the accused, R. Santha Kumari, had gone to Singapore in 2008 on a tourist visa and returned to India and started sending women and girls to Chennai. Purushottam and Rambabu used to help organising passports and tourist visas for the girls. The Police caught the accused while they were trying to shift one of the victims to Singapore in a decoy operation. They said red corner notices & extradition proposals will be sent to ministry of external affairs and Embassy of India in Singapore.
Published on Deccan Chronicle 
A team of West Godavari District Police led by DSP Kovvur Janaki Sharmila and others with the all support from Jebaraj of NGO Just Trust Chennai has been succesful in nabbing the Pondichery based Murugan who is on of the main trafficker. SP West Godavari Ravi Verma & DIG Eluru range has supervised this operation

Pune-Andhra police raid Pune brothels, rescue 60 women

Andhra police raid Pune brothels, rescue 60 women


Reporter

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 AT 12:00 AM (IST)

Tags: Pune, human trafficking, prostitution, CID, raid

PUNE: The anti-human trafficking cell of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Andhra Pradesh conducted a raid on brothels in Budhwar Peth and rescued more than 60 girls including 20 minors on Monday. Police have arrested seven women on charges of forcing the rescued girls into prostitution.

The seven accused have been identified as Santhabai alias Sunitha Naik (55), Geetha alias Saraswathi alias Latha Venkataraman (40), Rekha Mentu Das (35), all hailing from Anantapur district of AP, Sheela Thapa (50), Laxmi Myla (35), Rita Naik (45) and Bharathi Rahul (37) all from Karnataka. Judicial Magistrate (First Class) B.B. Pantavne remanded the accused in transit custody of the AP police, to be produced before the CWC, Anantapur on or before May 14.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Shivaji T, of Andhra Pradesh CID said that a case was registered at the Kadiri town police station in 2008. Seven traffickers were arrested then and two girls rescued. During investigations, the rescued girls informed the police about more such victims being confined in brothels at Budhwar Peth in Pune. Accordingly, a search warrant was issued dated May 6 and with help of Faraskhana police, a raid was conducted on Monday in Sagar building, said DySP Shivaji.

High drama took place in the court when the rescued minor girls claimed to be major and residents of different states, in front of the court. DySP Shivaji T. had requested the court to grant their transit custody, but the defence counsel argued that these rescued and minor girls cannot be sent in transit remand with the police.

The court ordered the rescued girls to be sent in rescue homes at Nana Peth and Mundhva.
POSTPONED
The anti-human trafficking cell of the CID, Andhra Pradesh has conducted couple of successful raids in past few years. According to sources, the Monday raid, actually planned months before, had to be postponed after information was leaked at the local police station level.

Child traffickers held, kingpin still at large

New Delhi, May 10, 2010

Child traffickers held, kingpin still at large

A human trafficking network active throughout north India since last year was neutralised by the Delhi Police after four people – including a woman, were arrested from West Delhi on Sunday.
According to police, the gang would kidnap girls in the age group of five to eight years from Delhi and sell them in Rajasthan.
“These buyers would rear the children till they attained sexual maturity, before pushing them into prostitution and other illegal activities,” said Sharad Aggarwal DCP (west).
Police identified the accused as Bina, Mangal, Ashok and Shyam Lal – hailing from Alwar district of Rajasthan but are yet to apprehend Radha (name changed), the gang’s leader.
“Radha used to work as an assistant with contractors supplying food to various primary schools in the capital,” said a senior police officer.
Police said Radha would come in contact with families of the gang’s prospective victims and then use her acquaintance with them to get access to their children.
“She would then kidnap them and traffic them to Rajasthan,” said the officer.
Police said the gang’s modus operandi and its links to Radha were discovered while interrogating the four accused persons following raids at Alwar’s Sodavas and Girvas villages.
“During interrogation, Bina disclosed that she had purchased a five-year-old girl from Radha through Shyam Lal for Rs 45,000,” the officer said.
Another girl, around eight years, was recovered from Mangal who confessed purchasing her from the same woman for Rs 40,000, police said.
“In addition to these two, another girl child has been rescued. However, she is so young that she is yet to make any intelligible reference to her home address or to the identity of her parents,” said Aggarwal.
“We have sent the children to Nirmal Chhaya and registered a case,” Aggarwal added.

9 rapists sentenced to life

Deccan Chronicle
(http://www.deccanchronicle.com)

9 rapists sentenced to life

Apr 29 ,2010

April 28: A fast track court at Kothagudem has convicted 14 accused in a gang rape case where they shot the video on mobile phone and telecast it on the local cable TV network.

Nine of the accused have been sentenced for life imprisonment, one for 10 years, and four for five-year rigorous imprisonment. The Kothagudem Fast-Track Court Additional Sessions Judge, Ms Vijaya Lakshmi, passed the verdict on Monday.

In 2007, a minor girl was raped and blackmailed by circulating the obscene photographs of rape. The victim was threatened not to reveal though she had been sexually assaulted since February 17, 2007. However, she disclosed the crime only on January 5, 2009.

A case was registered with Kottagudem two-town police station of Khammam district against the 14 accused. The case was booked under the Information Technology Act apart from rape and other IPC sections. The accused are in the jail on remand since then.

The then Khammam superintendent of police and now Eluru DIG, Mr Mahesh Muralidhar Bhagawat, said, “the accused made a power point presentation of the rape photos and telecast them on the TV.”

The nine accused convicted for life have been identified as Amar, 24 , Raju, 28, Vamsi, 24, Raj Kamal, 19, Sudhakar, 26, Mahamood, 24, Muktyal, 46, Sultan, 23, and Baba, 21. The accused were convicted for gang-rape and under Section 66 of the IT Act. Another accused Md Ramjan, 22, was sentenced for 10 years for helping the rapists. Four other accused identified as P. Phani Kumar, 26, Nagaraju, 29, G. Madhu and K. Little Babu were sentenced for five years

Traffickers find loopholes to boost sex trade

Deccan Chronicle
Traffickers find loopholes to boost sex trade

28/03/2010
U.SUDHAKAR REDDY

DC HYDERABAD

With the cases of human trafficking increasing there is a need for greater Vigilance by the passport, emigration authorities, and by the police to nab traffickers and unscrupulous agents. With the cases of human trafficking increasing there is a need for greater vigilance by the passport, emigration authorities, and by the police to nab traffickers and unscrupulous agents. Thousands of girls and women who faked their age and were sent to work as house maids, beau ticians, hairdressers and baby sitters are now languishing in the sex trade in UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Singapore and Malayasia. There is little point in making rules and regulations to safeguard women from sexual exploitation when the rules are so easily and blatantly flouted. To check the racket in sex trafficking of women who seek to work overseas, the emigration rules say that no ‘Emigration Certificate Not Required’ stamp will be issued to unskilled or semiskilled women seeking to work abroad who are below 30 years of age. This rule was introduced because many girls and young women were being recruited for what they thought were genuine jobs overseas, and then pushed into the sex trade. However, unscrupulous recruiting agents have found a way around this age provision thanks to the laxity of the passport office and the emigration authorities and a flourishing trade in bogus age certificates. Two sisters from Mandapeta, one aged 18 and the other 21, were recently rescued from their employer in Dubai who was sexually exploiting them. Says the 18-year-old, who is now in the city: “Three of us from Mandapeta went to Deira in Dubai because we were promised a salary of Rs. 13,000 a month for domestic work. Each of us paid Rs. 60,000 to get a work permit. I was only 16 at the time, but in the affidavit the agent put my age as 30. From the very second day they began torturing us and exploited us sexually. We got in touch with one Raju, a native of Valigonda in Nalgonda district, a trader. He informed the Dubai police who rescued us and we landed in Hyderabad on March 2.”

         The Mandapeta police have registered a case and arrested two persons including the local agent, Suleman. A police team that went to Chennai arrested others in the racket from Chennai and Vellore. Thousands of girls and women who faked their age and were sent to work as house maids, beauticians, hairdressers and baby sitters are now languishing either in the sex trade hubs in the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Singapore and Malayasia, or are exploited by their employers who pay them paltry sums as salary. It is the responsibility of the Regional Passport Office, which issues the passports, to check that the age is correct. Applicants whose educational qualification is below SSC (Class X) must get notarised affidavits as age proof. Here, another scam comes into play. While probing the recent case of a threat letter sent to the Chief Justice of the AP High Court, the Hyderabad police came across large numbers of blank notarised affidavits which were being used for illegal purposes, include providing proof of age for passport purposes. The Protector of Emigrants can issue an Emigration Check Not Required certificate if the woman’s age on her passport is above 30. But crooked job recruitment agents, some of whom are not even licensed, manage to get fraudulent affidavits certifying that the women are over 30 and no authority further down the line bothers to check whether the affidavit is genuine. These illegal agents work mostly in East Godavari, West Godavari, Kadapa, Anantapur, Nizamabad and Hyderabad districts.
                  The Eluru range deputy inspector-general of police, Mr. Mahesh Muralidhar Bhagawat, says, “The local agents have a network of agents in Bengaluru and Chennai who in turn have connections with agents in Dubai. Minor and unmarried women who trust them land up in brothels. Most of them are run by people from India, particularly Chennai, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh." Mr. Bhagawat said that the kingpin of the racket that involved the two sisters is Abdul Hameed of Kulai in Mangalore, Karnataka, who lives in Dubai. “He is assisted by people from Chennai, Bengaluru and one Bhanu from AP. At least seven of them are yet to be arrested in this case. The victims say there are 15 to 20 other girls from the state in Dubai being forced into the sex trade.” The state police have approached the joint secretary in the ministry of external affairs, Mr. Ravi Shankar Aisola, who in turn has contacted the consul general of India in the UAE to seek the arrest of the seven accused as well as to rescue the other girls. According to officials in the office of the Protector General of Emigrants, there are 87 registered and licensed recruiting agents in the state, most of them in Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Rayachoti, Kadapa, Nizamabad and Adilabad. At least one lakh people, including semi-skilled and unskilled men and women, were issued a work visa in 2009, up from 31,000 in 2008. Emigration officials say that it is up to the passport officials to cross-check the details of the affidavit giving proof of age, or to get an applicant medically tested if there is any doubt. Immigration authorities at airports are also not vigilant or else they would soon spot the obvious fraud. For those born after 1989, the only age of proof that is accepted by passport authorities is the municipal birth certificate or a certificate from the registrar of births. But for those born earlier, a certificate attesting to age from an educational institution or an affidavit sworn before a magistrate or notary stating date and place of birth is also accepted. Crooked agents use this latter provision by managing to get fake affidavits.
                  The police register cases under Section 24 of the Emigration Act and 420 of the IPC (cheating) against the bogus agents. In Kadapa, police booked around 35 such agents and in East Godavari two agents were arrested recently. The Regional Passport Officer was not available for comment for this article. Clearly, greater vigilance is required by the passport and emigration authorities, and by the police to nab traffickers and unscrupulous agents. A massive information campaign to warn poor women desperate for a job about the pitfalls ahead would also go a long way in preventing their exploitation.

 THE HINDU
Andhra Pradesh - Rajahmundry
Girl trafficking on the rise in coastal Andhra
Date:03/03/2010

‘Sravanti’ gather information about 246 slum children in Rajahmundry
Sravanti is an NGO working on child rights and related issues
HIV positive cases have also increased
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Rajahmundry: Girl trafficking in coastal Andhra, particularly East and West Godavari districts, has been on the rise for the last two years and most of the girls are minors.

According to Sravanti, an NGO working on child rights and child abuse and related matters, which released a report on Tuesday, the prevalence rate of HIV has also increased among the children in East Godavari. The rise in HIV positive cases is 2 per cent in the age group of 9-18 years.

Speaking to media persons after conducting ‘awareness creation for media persons about child rights and formation of network’, G. Saikumar and A. Ramakrishna, project coordinator and secretary respectively, said that the organisation took up social mapping in 30 slums of Rajahmundry. In the exercise, the organisation identified different issues including early child marriages, HIV, child labour, child trafficking, orphans, semi-orphans, drop-out children, migration and neglected child.

Mr. Saikumar said that the NGO gathered information about 246 children from 30 slums, among whose 46 were HIV-affected. He said that most of the school drop-outs in Chenchukona hamlet of Konthamuru panchayat were staying in the school till 11 a.m. and after mid-day meal they were coming out for begging, going for labour work in quarry area and rest of the children were in the grip of the gangs involved in girl-trafficking.

According to Mr. Ramakrishna, “Most of the minor girls that are released from prostitute houses from Mumbai, Bangalore, Goa and other areas are from East and West Godavari districts.” He said that four blocks in Satellite City, Bruhannalapeta, Seethampeta, Annapoornammapeta were identified as the areas where girl trafficking was prevalent. Child labourers were more in Namavaram, Lingampeta, Ambedkarnagar and Andhra Nagar areas, he said.

New Delhi based Godman, air hostesses held for running sex racket

New Delhi based Godman, air hostesses held for running sex racket


A self-styled godman who preached spirituality while running a prostitution racket and two air hostesses were among eight people arrested for flesh trade here, police said Friday.

The eight, including two men and six women in the age group of 19 to 30 years, were taken into custody near the PVR cinema at Saket in south Delhi Thursday while travelling in two cars.

They included an air hostess who worked for an Indian carrier and another who was employed by a European airline.

The mastermind was identified as Shiv Murat Dwivedi, 39, alias Ichchadhari Sant Swami Bhimanand Ji Maharaj Chitrakoot Wale.

Deputy Commissioner of Police HGS Dhaliwal said that Dwivedi belonged to Chitrakoot in Uttar Pradesh. He came to New Delhi in 1988 and worked as a security guard at a five-star hotel in Nehru Place.

He later worked for a massage parlour at Lajpat Nagar. He was arrested for carrying out prostitution 1997 and 1998, Dhaliwal said.
“Dwivedi then changed his appearance and started calling himself Ichchadhari Sant Swami Bhimanand Ji Maharaj Chitrakoot Wale. He was based at a Sai Baba temple in Badarpur and gradually started a flourishing flesh trade racket in the guise of leading a spiritual life,” he said.
Dwivedi started holding religious discourses and congregations and even got a video CD titled “Shri Sai Amrit Varsha” released. He even wrote for a magazine.
He constructed a 200-bed hospital and a huge temple in Chitrakoot.
Dhaliwal said the two air hostesses lived in posh areas of South Delhi. “One is pursuing MBA. The other is an aspiring model who wants to debut in Bollywood.”

Inter-state trafficking gang held, 10 women rescued

Inter-state trafficking gang held, 10 women rescued



Fri, Feb 26 09:20 PM

Hyderabad, Feb 26 (PTI) Police today claimed to have busted an inter-state trafficking racket with the arrest of 12 persons and rescued 10 women, including three minors, who were forced into prostitution in Andhra Pradesh''s West Godavari district. Acting on a tip-off, a police team conducted a raid on the house of S Rajeswari, a resident of Tadepalligudem town in the district yesterday and rescued the girls, Eluru Range DIG Mahesh M Bhagwat said.

When the raid was made, the woman along with 11 other persons were negotiating a deal for buying and recruiting the girls for flesh trade, he said. "While the negotiations were coming to an end, the police party surrounded the house and caught the traffickers'' gang red-handed," Bhagwat said.

During interrogation the accused revealed that they used to trap poor girls by promising them jobs in Chennai, he said, adding that the gang used to sell the victims at the rate of Rs 30,000 each. The girls were sent to medical examination and the accused were being sent to judicial remand after being booked under various sections of IPC, the DIG said.

Sensitization of stake holders on human trafficking at Eluru

Concern over women trafficking


Staff Reporter

ELURU: Sunita Krishnan, founder of ‘Prajvala’, a Hyderabad-based non-governmental organisation working for the victims of women trafficking, on Tuesday expressed her concern over the State turning into a hub of sex tourism of late. She was speaking at a sensitisation programme on human trafficking here. In a bid to drive her point home, she said the recent raids by the police in Hyderabad had revealed that the tourists from Azerbaijan, Serbia and Uzbekistan had been descending on the State for their sexual exploits with children aged below 10 years.

A decoy operation conducted by her organisation in Hyderabad had led to the rescue of a 12-year-old high school girl from the sex work. Alarmingly, even the children in 3-4 years age group were being used for shooting of pornographic films to be sold in the European market, Ms. Sunita said.

She regretted that the Internet turned out to be a convenient market channel for sex tourists.

The activist said the increasing consumerism allegedly abetted by the media through advertisements had been forcing the women into the trafficking regardless of their economic and social status.

The societal attitude towards the victims of trafficking made it difficult for their re-integration with the mainstream society after their liberation from the traffickers, she added.

Mahesh M. Bhagavat, DIG of Police, Eluru range, appealed to the district administration to sanction a bridge school for the children of trafficking victims in the district. He regretted over the reported passive role of the Revenue Divisional Magistrates (also RDOs) in exercising their powers under the Section 18(1) of the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act, 1986 in closing brothels and eviction of traffickers. Superintendent of Police B. Balakrishna and Collector A. Vani Prasad spoke

10 years conviction for traffickers in A.P.

In a human trafficking case of procuring minor girl for prostitution with a plan to send her to Malaysia-Singapore reported in 2007 at Eluru 2 Town P.S. of West Godavari District in A.P., on 5/2/2010, 2 traffickers are convicted for 10 years rigorous imprisonment under section 5 of Immoral Traffic Prevention act 1986, 7 years of rigorous imprisonment under 366A IPC. and 6 months of imprisonment under 417 IPC. One of the trafficker had earlier worked in Singapore- Malaysia & her passport was seized. Victim was trapped in the name of giving her admission in Nursing School at Chennai & her Passport was under prepration when raid was conducted.


Investigating officers Sub Inspector Govind Raju & Inspector Vijay Paul underwent training at AP Police academy for human trafficking under UNODC's project. Dedicated efforts of sensitized Police officers, prosecutor & Judicial Magistrate helped in getting this note worthy conviction. Anti Human trafficking Unit for Andhra region is located at Eluru

Compendium on Best Practices: Anti Human Trafficking by Law Enforcement Agencies

Compendium published by UNODC on best practices on anti human trafficking by Law Enforcement agencies where I have contributed

Brothel owner held at Samalkot

Brothel owner held at Samalkot
By By DC Correspondent
Feb 13 2010
Feb. 12: Two minor girls of the city escaped from a brothel at Samalkot on Friday.With the help of an auto-rickshaw driver, the girls reached Samalkot police station. The police took the brothel’s organiser into custody.
According to the girls aged around 14 years, a few days ago, a woman Devi from Kattipudi in East Godavari approached the girls’ parents, residents of Kakinada II Town.
Devi asked the parents to send the girls along with her and promised them that she would show some work to the girls somewhere in the district. The parents agreed and sent the girls with Devi who sold the girls to the brothel organiser, Vemagiri Missamma, who is living in a Rajiv Gruhakalpa house at Samalkot.
For the last six days, Missamma started pestering the girls to join her work with a person in Hyderabad. The girls refused to do so.
On Friday morning, the girls escaped from the house and met an auto-rickshaw driver, G Veeranna. With his help, the girls met the district Congress secretary, Mr U. John Moses, who took them to the police station.
Police immediately raided the house and took two women, P. Lakshmi and Devi into custody initially and launched an investigation.
Speaking to reporters, the girls said that Missamma was planning to send them to Chennai and Hyderabad for sex work.

15 minor girls brought for factory work freed

15 minor girls brought for factory work freed
TNN, 10 February 2010,
BANGALORE: Fifteen minor girls from Andhra Pradesh who were brought to Bangalore to work in a garment factory at Nayandanahalli, were rescued at the City Railway Station on Tuesday.

Railway authorities, who saw the group of anxious girls from Srikakulam district in AP, alerted the police and child helpline. Preliminary inquiry revealed they were bought and then brought for work.

BOSCO child helpline coordinator Gnana Prakash said: “Off the 15 girls, three are above 18 years and were working at a garment factory. They were paid by the employer to get more girls. So they brought the minors from their hometown Srikakulam. Such incidents are regular in garment factories but are left unchecked by the authorities.”

A security personnel from the garment factory was waiting at the railway station with a vehicle to take these girls to the factory. However, timely action from the railway authorities saved them.

The girls are at the government girls home now. The child helpline has registered a case of trafficking with the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights

Indian gov't plans code of conduct for ‘safe’ tourism

Indian gov't plans code of conduct for ‘safe’ tourism

Ranjeet S. Jamwal
The Statesman
Publication Date: 04-02-2010

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In view of the increasing incidences of rape, sexual offences, sexual abuse of children, particularly street-children, the Indian tourism ministry has finalised a 'code of conduct' for the industry to prevent any form of exploitation of children.

Apart from preventing sexual exploitation of children and women, the 'code of conduct for safe and honourable tourism' also aims to protect India’s culture, values and heritage.

As 70 per cent of sex workers in the country are children, the code has specific guidelines for hotels, tour operators and airlines for preventing sexual exploitation of children by guests.


It has been finalised after consulting all stakeholders in the tourism sector, including state governments. According to sources in the tourism ministry, the code of conduct will be implemented once it gets the approval of the tourism minister Miss Selja. The most likely date for its implementation is March 8 (International Women’s Day).

When the code of conduct comes into effect, suppliers of tourism services will have to take measures to protect children against sexual exploitation in the business. As per the code of conduct, hotels, tour operators and airlines will have to train their staff to identify and report a possible exploitative activity to authorities. It also forbids tourists from seeking out children for sex via chat rooms and discussion groups. Hotels would also be asked not to ‘help’ tourists get access to children for sex or employ minors in their industry.

Child sex tourism is believed to be prevalent in many states of the country. Studies have shown that in the name of pilgrim, heritage and coastal tourism, sexual exploitation of children is quite widespread in Maharastra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Orissa.

Apart from major cities and places for sightseeing, pilgrim centres like Tirupati, Guruvayoor and Puri are growing hubs for sex tourism. Study reports say foreign tourists engage in paedophilia and sex with minors through short-term marriages.
Last month, the Supreme Court had asked the government to come out with foolproof measures to curb ‘sex tourism’ in the country and register cases of rape against those pushing children into prostitution rackets or having sex with them. It directed that sexual assault on children must be registered as rape.

Centre’s code push to wipe off child sex tourism stain

Centre’s code push to wipe off child sex tourism stain
New Delhi, Feb 2, DHNS:

Deeply disturbed and concerned with the widely growing perception that India is emerging as a prime sex tourism destination, the Centre has taken the first big step towards checking an anomaly by putting together a code of conduct for the tourism industry.


What has made the government and the tourism industry sit up and take note of a trend in which foreign tourists visit tourism hubs like Goa, Kerala as well as pilgrimage-rich stateslike Tamil Nadu and Orissa to seek more than the sun and the culture.

The code of conduct is a virtual admission by the government that the problem exists. The code of conduct, which is likely to become effective on March 8 – observed as International Women’s Day – after approval from Tourism Minister Kumari Selja, has come following several recent exposes involving foreigners indulging in child sex, paedophilia and pornography.

The code of conduct for service providers in the tourism sector for “Safe and Honorable Tourism” has been finalised after consulting all stakeholders, including state governments.

“It had become an urgent necessity to come up with such a code as India has been identified as a source, transit and destination point in the international circuit, and a large number of children are also trafficked within the country,” the sources stressed.

Tourism Ministry sources said the government decided to act following warnings from experts that the menace had assumed dangerous proportions not just in tourist havens but also in pligrimage centres in Tamil Nadu and Orissa.

Humane view

The government is also taking a humane view and would not want condemning impoverished children to the explotation of sex tourism. “The code aims to protect children and women, culture, values and the coutnry’s heritage to ensure long-term sustainable and responsible tourism in India,” the sources said.

Among the organisations involved in evolving the code are PATA India, Save the Children India, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Equitable Tourism Option (EQUATIONS), NEST India Foundation and the National Commission for Women was also consulted in this regard.

”Under the code, hotels will have to report any suspicious behaviour by any staff or customer to the local police. If any material pertaining to child pornography is found on the computer of any employee or customer, it will also have to be reported to the local police,” the sources said.

Tour operators will have to train personnel to be alert against any possibility of sexual exploitation of children.

“Airlines operating within and to India will have to commit themselves to pursue, with every possible means, public awareness about the issue through in-flight magazines, ticket jackets, internet links, and videos on long-haul flights,” the sources said.

The code will be applicable to all directors, employees, suppliers, contractors and patrons of hotels, airlines, tour operators and institutions connected with the industry. It will require hotels to even prevent guests from visiting child pornography sites using the Internet, and seeking to contact children for sexual purposes via chat rooms or discussion groups.

The code has been necessitated, the sources said, in the light of growth in high-spending foreign tourists and the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC)’s projection that India will be among the nations having the fastest-growing tourism industry over the next 10-15 years.

The government move follows the 2008 World Congress against the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents held in Rio, Brazil, in which countries were asked to draft special laws to prevent children from being used in the tourism industry.

Police bust gang trafficking in girls

THE HINDU

Date:03/02/2010

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Andhra Pradesh - Rajahmundry

Police bust gang trafficking in girls

Staff Reporter

Minor shifted to hospital for tests
Rajahmundry: Police cracked two important cases on Tuesday at a time. In once case, they arrested members of a gang involved in trafficking of girls. In another case they arrested two persons who were allegedly taking 75 packets of ganja along with them in a car. The two cases were dealt with by D. Janaki, Sub-Divisional Police Officer and her team.

In a media conference, the DSP said that Boddeti Seetha Mahalakshmi and her brother Boddeti Ganesh were engaged in tailoring in Narayanapuram area from 2007. They kidnapped a minor girl and Ganesh allegedly molested her and then sold the girl with the help of his sister to Nani-Raju brother gang in Hyderabad. In 2008, Malakpeta police raided the brothel and sent back the minor girl to Swadhara Home in Rajahmundry. Recently, the girl went back to her grandmother’s house and Seetha Mahalakshmi and Ganesh chased her and tried to engage her in prostitution. However, she escaped from their clutches and reached One-Town police station.

Sub-Inspector M.G. Ramakrishna took her to DSP and the DSP and SI raided the house of Seetha Mahalakshmi and Ganesh on Tuesday morning and arrested them. The minor girl was shifted to Government Hospital for medical tests. The police booked cases under different sections under IPC and POA Acts.

International trafficking India as destination

The new white flesh trade
Mihir Srivastava
January 21, 2010

Lola, 22, is a tall girl with high, thin eyebrows on a slender face. Her features are sharp but her eyes are uninterested, fixed at a painting on the wall of the coffee shop, as she tries hard to explain, in broken English, why she is in India. Clad in a too-tight pink sweatshirt, faded cream shorts and shiny red boots, her right hand bearing a cocktail ring which she keeps twisting nervously, her blue nail varnish chipped, she seems a far cry from her alluring nocturnal avatar as one of the Capital's high-priced prostitutes. She speaks of how she came to work here two-and-a-half months ago. Her boyfriend TC, not Tom Cruise, she clarifies, momentarily showing signs of life, joined her last month. Both are clear about what they want from their lives--enough money to buy a house in Tashkent, their hometown in Uzbekistan.

The cost of fantasy

CIS girls now dominate the high-end sex market offering sexual pleasure as leisure
SERVICES TIME IN HOURS RATE IN RUPEES/per head
One trip (sexual intercourse) Two 8,000
Two trips Two 10,000
Two trips Four 15,000
Unlimited trips Eight or overnight 25,000
Orgy (at least one girl per person) Eight or overnight 25,000
Escort service (travel outstation with the client, all expenses are met) Per day 25,000
Play hostess at a stag party Four hours 15,000
Posing as nude model for photography and sketching One hour 5,000
Payment is in advance/all credit cards accepted, cash is preferred. The websites guarantee confidentiality.
One of five siblings who grew up in poverty, Lola's mother is dead and her father was abusive. For her it's just another job. There are no regrets. "It was TC who did all the running around for me, got my papers done and put me on a flight to Delhi," she says.

Lola is not alone. She is part of a growing army of fair-skinned prostitutes, about 3,000 of them in the Capital and about the same number in the other parts of the country. They are from Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Chechnya and Kyrgyzstan, all of which are part of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Replacing the earlier favourites, imports from Nepal, and charging 40 per cent more than Indian prostitutes, they are changing the rules of the game, feeding on the Indian fascination for white skin and the greater openness with which they can promote their sexual favours, through classified advertisements in newspapers and professionally-designed websites.

That the fascination for white skin is transnational is evident from the string of recent arrests. Last year, on December 10, a Delhi-based hotel manager, Shanker Mishra, was arrested in Rajkot along with an Uzbek prostitute in her late 20s, Ragini, a native of Tashkent. Initial investigations revealed that Mishra would provide women to cash-rich traders and garment exporters in Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Indore.

A little earlier, on October 30, another sex racket was busted in Mahipalpur, Delhi, where three women of CIS origin, Aslefya, 23, Sonya, 25, and Roma, 27, were arrested following a scuffle between a few pimps and locals in front of a guesthouse, 365 Inn.

In July, the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police arrested two CIS prostitutes when a decoy customer was sent to strike a deal with them. The pimp, Goldy, came with the two foreign women in a car. They were here on a six-month tourist visa and had been in the Gulf before coming to India; with their stay here governed by a Rs 1.5 lakh contract for each girl for one month. The women will be deported soon.



But it's quite likely they will be back, admits Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, Mumbai, Rakesh Maria. "The prostitution racket involving CIS women is very well organised. The Indian pimps are in close touch with their counterparts in Dubai and CIS countries," he says. It's the culmination of events that began with the collapse of the Soviet Union and gained momentum with the entry of young CIS women into Dubai, transforming it into a major centre of prostitution.

According to an article in The New Yorker in 2008, an "almost perfect recipe: mass immigration, mass transience, a tremendous concentration of money and anonymity, and a robust demand for labour". But a crackdown in Dubai in December 2007 when 240 people were arrested and in May last year when 2,713 prostitutes were detained as well as the deportation of 228 Uzbek women from Thailand recently, ensured that many women moved south, a process hastened by the meltdown.

Inside the new trade

Getting a light-skinned prostitute is rather easy. All one has to do is call one of the numbers flashed in the two dozen-odd difficult-to-ignore massage advertisements in the classified pages of leading dailies. The sales pitch starts as soon as the ad is mentioned. Then there's the Net, where a search for 'escort service' with the city name yields pages of results.
Most of the women come as tourists from the impoverished republics of the former Soviet Union, particularly Uzbekistan. Some are coerced while others get into this business voluntarily.
The so-called 'aunties', CIS women who have been illegally living in India for several years, act as the interface between the women and local pimps. The aunties are local agents of a mafia back home and share up to 50 per cent of the profits.
Most prostitutes are not paid; they serve 'aunties' under informal contracts that pay off loans taken back home by their families in return for services provided here. The contracts run for three to six months, during which up to a third of a prostitute's earnings go repay family loans.
Lured by big money, some women come back as 'freelancers'. They then stay with an Indian pimp, who sometimes helps them get a visa. They also pay these women a daily fee which is usually between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000. Most women reinvest their earnings to make a profit; exporting leather garments is a favoured avenue.
The pimps also make money by organising rooms for clients. Five-star hotels, farmhouses and guesthouses are hotspots, with smaller establishments bending rules to ensure anonymity. Official addresses are avoided.
Some women aren't prostitutes and others aren't just that. As part of dancing troupes, they are called 'belly dancers' or 'item girls' and serve as hostesses and showgirls at parties.
Lax visa rules make for a thriving sex trade. Joint Commissioner of Police,Crime,Mumbai, Rakesh Maria says, "The pimps in India, Dubai and CIS countries work in close coordination." A secret report of the NSA had expressed concern over foreigners buying land illegally. Others have established guesthouses and restaurants.
Only half a dozen arrests were made last year; there were no convictions. According to the law, soliciting or encouraging the exchange of sexual services for money is a sex crime and not prostitution. Sometimes these women are deported, but most of them come back.
The Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls (Amendment) Act, 1978, is toothless. Most arrested women get bail as soliciting is difficult to prove. This prompted the Supreme Court last month to ask the government to legalise prostitution, on a PIL filed by an NGO called the Bachpan Bachao Andolan.



"The odds were against staying in Dubai," says Nagina, a 27-year-old Muslim from Samarkand who was in Dubai till a month ago. She escaped the police but many of her friends are in jail for illegally entering the country on false passports. She doesn't like to go to a bar to meet a client as "it is against my religion". But prostitution? "They need our services and we provide it," she says. Or take Roma, a 25-year-old from Karshi, Uzbekistan, who ran away from a violent father when she was 17. She was sucked into prostitution and sent to Dubai where her travel documents were confiscated. She is now a veteran with seven years of experience and this is her third stay in India. She lives in a three-storey flat in Delhi, atop a spiral staircase. It's a big living room with bare orange walls, a dressing table with lights and a smorgasbord of cosmetics. As she settles down in a couch to talk, the only sign of her profession is a roommate who lies huddled in the bedroom next door, sleeping in mid-afternoon, working off the effects of a late night. As she flicks the ash from her cigarette, Roma says, "Only the best survive. The pressure to do well is so high. I learned English and have been to the US and Europe. I am okay with this life."


Two of the three prostitutes arrested in the Capital in October last year.As the hunting ground shifts from Dubai, the CIS women, often referred to as "night butterflies", find India easier to work in. The classified advertisements in newspapers are easy to spot, printed by the dozens every day, five lines each costing Rs 1,800, giving mobile numbers, the option of paying by credit card and dropping cryptic hints of "body massage" assuring "full satisfaction". Translate what that means: accompanying clients on long drives, having sex with them during the lunch hour in pimp hideouts around commercial hubs or in designated safehouses, and playing host at 'stag' parties where they serve alcohol and food skimpily dressed. All this for prices ranging from Rs 8,000 to Rs 30,000 depending on the duration.

It's difficult to miss them, whether it is five-star hotel lobbies, elite clubs or farmhouses. They come here on tourist visas for three to six months and stay with 'aunties', women from CIS countries, who act as mediators between agents in home countries and pimps in India. The women are paid on a daily basis.

In Delhi, for example, over 150 Indian pimps host them and some of them have four to five CIS women on their payroll. The pimps pocket the money from clients, as payment for their upkeep as well as promotion. Call at any of the numbers advertised in the newspapers and they are quite blunt. "She will do all you want," says the male voice at the other end. "Trained handling" means the client will relive his "wildest fantasies". And when they say "full satisfaction guaranteed", they mean "the girl will do whatever the clients wants, in the way they want, with great ability". Some even promise to refresh clients with world class 'blwoiob' (blowjob) 'ser'(vice), the misspelling deliberate to avoid trouble.

Some get poetic, luring clients with phrases such as "indulge yourself in the most electrifying experience of your lifetime with our bewitching masseuses" or proclaiming that carnal pleasures can be sublime, "where mind and soul entwine together in heights of pleasure". So says a classified ad aimed at older customers. The idea is all are welcome, from the cash-rich entrepreneur to the high performing salesman, who gets sex as a bonus.

There is an even easier option, the Internet. Google 'escort service' and the name of the city where you intend to access the services, and voila, the choices pop up faster than Roger Federer's serves. Professionally designed websites offer a host of services and a detailed rate list. Again, all it requires is a call to the given number, the time of requirement, and the specific service.


"Whether for pleasure trips, business occasions, corporate events, functions or dinner dates", "especially handpicked to provide the highest level of service possible with professionalism, integrity and discretion assured at all times for the discerning gentlemen," declares one website. Clients can book their services from anywhere in the world, can even outsource the planning of a fun-filled holiday to them. Payment is to be made in advance and clients are given the convenient option of paying by credit card.


A pimp strikes a deal in a shady corner.Declares one website, "For gentlemen who would want to move beyond the confines of the hourly session, I offer these exclusive getaway packages," to the scenic towns of Nainital and Shimla in summers and to regal Jaipur and Agra in winters. Yet another tells its prospective customers, "My favourite pastime in the field of the adult industry, always has been related to couples, including lesbian or bisexual female couples and groups of people."

Their skin colour is their biggest selling point. "Sex with light-skinned women is aspirational," says Pramada Menon, a Delhi-based gender activist. The CIS women agree. "Indians are so conscious of their colour and ours," says Sarah, 27, from Tashkent, who has been here now for five months on a tourist visa. So much so that Indian women find it difficult to counter the 'white cult' that is taking over the premium flesh trade. Indian women have to be hard-sold. So if it's an Indian woman, the advertisement reads: she is a 'Punjabi' (read intense and fair), 'model' (slim and beautiful), 'airhostess' (suave and smart), 'hygienic' (clean), 'broadminded' and 'sober'. Broadminded assures clients that the women will play out their fantasies, while 'sober' indicates that they will be professional about it.

"East European girls have a different look and they are exotic for Indians as much as Delhi girls are unusual for Americans," that's a recorded voice playing on Vivek's phone--he operates in an upmartket neighbourhood of the Capital and has four CIS women on his roster. "Most of our clients have gained money recently and want new girls every time," he adds.

CIS women also offer anonymity. "For our older, wealthier and regular customers, it is not about sex but courtship," says Feruza, 32, an Uzbek woman. "They want somebody to give them an honest hearing and like the way we pamper them. Language is an issue but we can talk them into relaxation. They like that they are in command and that actually helps them surrender to us," she says. Ask Nitin, who runs a computer hardware business at a commercial complex in Delhi. He is in his mid-30s and is married with children. For him, the once-a-week sexcapade is an addiction he cannot do without.

"These women have an element of professional detachment. They are here for a few months and you don't know whether you will ever see them again. They are not interested in you beyond the task well done," he says, comparing them with their Indian counterparts. "But the Indians want your number. They give theirs, want to know what I do and how much I earn. Then they go on about how they belong to a good family too but have been forced into prostitution by some compelling circumstances. That is so irritating."

Shrugs Shruti, a 19-year-old college girl who doubles as a call girl and is on the roster of two pimps in Delhi, "If Indian men are looking for white women for their novelty, white men are interested in us. They give us generous tips." But why do white women attract so many repeat customers? "We cannot do things that white women do with Indian men," says Shruti huffily.

CIS women dress well, wear immaculate make-up and carry the best accessories. They also play nice enough to have some men in their thrall. Roma gives the example of a 35-year-old married businessman, who offered to marry her. When she refused, he would insist only on her, paying extra for her services. "Aunty wanted me to meet him more often as money was coming thick and fast, but I stopped because he was getting emotional about the whole affair," she says, adding on second thoughts, "but it is not a bad idea to get married after all."


The 'aunties' are the key to the business. Usually heavily-built, manicured, made-up, chain-smokers, they pronounce their verdict with the authority borne of years of handling pimps, visa agents and police officials. "I tell my girls to come back if the clients get rough. They can call me any time even when they are with the clients. If they don't like something, they can stop right there," says one aunty. Four of them have formidable reputations. They have their areas of domination but their areas of operation overlap.


White women with their partners enjoying a meal after a hard day's work in Delhi.With names like Svetlana, Diana, Nafisa and Sweta, these aunties have never been prostitutes themselves but are cashing in on their strong Indian connections. The fathers of two aunties were diplomats stationed in India 20 years ago; another has a KGB background. For them, it's not a racket but a business. Says an aunty, dressed in a long black skirt, a thick bead necklace nestling in the V of a cleavage-popping white T-shirt, "More then 20,000 girls have come and gone from India in several lots over the past two years. Most were from CIS countries and have done well for themselves." The numbers are lower than in the UAE and Dubai, she adds.

These aunties are careful and so are the women. Unlike their Indian counterparts, they always carry a pack of flavoured condoms. Cleanliness is an issue and they insist that clients take a shower before going to bed with them. They have a dress code for bed too: red and black lingerie from the best brands. Sometimes the aunties insist on sending Indian prostitutes first. Only when she gives an all-clear signal is the client allowed to sleep with a white woman.

In order not to attract undue attention, only two girls are lodged in one flat each in areas close to busy neighbourhoods. They wear Fabindia clothes by day, have a fetish for leather garments at night and sport dark eyeliner at all times. "That's our fashion statement," says Bessica, 27. The mother of two has been in India for four months after her jobless husband persuaded her to come here. "I was in the UAE and Dubai before I came to India. The girls of my generation do feel the pangs. We are spiritually dead," she says.

Most of the women come directly to aunties to pay off loans their family took back home. "It is according to an informal contract between the family and the agent back home where the girls are required to stay overseas for three to six months to pay off their debt by making themselves available for prostitution," says Mashhura, 28, who belongs to Buxoro in Uzbekistan. Some come back to make money for themselves and get in touch with Indian pimps like Vivek who maintains four such 'freelancers' and pays each Rs 10,000 per day for their period of stay. They sometimes end up working 12 hours a day, meeting six different clients, as pimps make Rs 35,000 a day, which includes the police cut, their stay and other expenses.

Rajiv, 30, a pimp in Delhi, has six such women in his list. He calls prospective clients to his home and gives them one of his rooms. His wife, a tall woman in a salwar-kameez, who listens to him negotiating from behind the curtain of the living room and often walks out to tell the client sternly, "the price is fixed."

The number of CIS-origin prostitutes in India is growing. Four hundred prostitutes are expected to arrive in the Capital during the Commonwealth Games to be held later in the year. "We know there will be great demand for women then and special arrangements are being made, like renting safehouses. Some Indian pimps are even buying flats," says Avita, 30, who came here with her cousin from Tashkent.

Insiders also say that some girls are brought to India as part of dance troupes. These women perform group dances in revealing clothes, mostly at private parties. According to Rishikant, a 32-year-old activist who works for the NGO, Shakti Vahini, and has rescued more than 1,000 girls in the last decade from prostitution, "Their number has increased significantly in the last one-and-a-half years." He explains that the police are aware of the problem but can do little as senior officers are involved.


India's anti-trafficking law, the Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls (Amendment) Act (SITA), 1978, aims at combating the commercialisation of the flesh trade (brothels, prostitution rings and pimping). Prostitution is not illegal. But in practice, SITA is not commonly used; instead the Indian Penal Code is deployed to charge sex workers with crimes such as public indecency or public nuisance, punishable with imprisonment up to six months or fine or both. If the sex worker is a minor, the client may get a sentence of seven to 10 years. But, given the overt manner in which the flesh trade operates, it cannot happen without the support of the police. Former police officer Kiran Bedi calls it the "collective failure of the whole criminal judicial system."

Failure or not, the women don't mind. "We get to travel, stay in new places and make friends. Yes, the money is good. But I like it here as well," says Kate, 27, who was presented as a model to an exporter in Delhi with whom she would be travelling to Goa. She arrived in India about a month-and-a-half ago and has already been with 50 men. As she leaves, dressed in tight jeans and a brown psychedelic top under a black leather jacket, a white taxi waiting outside to take her to her 51st client, she shrugs her shoulders.

"I was deported from Israel last year. The next few days will be tricky. It's Republic Day and security is tight.'' It's one of the perils of her profession. But one she carries off as easily as the Christian Louboutin high heels she bought online last year. It's price she extracts for the pleasure she provides.

Brothel to boudoir

The changing nature of the premium sex market

The flesh trade in India has become a big money-spinner with about 30 lakh girls (the population of Pune) involved, according to a recent government-commissioned study. Most women forced into prostitution due to abject poverty are from Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. They live in sub-human conditions in congested brothels in areas such as G.B. Road in Delhi or Kamatipura in Mumbai. Till 2000, the women for the so-called 'premium category' were trafficked illegally across the border from Nepal and Myanmar for Rs 1,000 a night. Things started to change when the fruits of globalisation reached younger urban Indian men thanks to the robust growth in the outsourcing industry and the advent of multinational companies that paid fat salaries. On the home turf too, voluntarism replaced coercion thanks to the easy, and big, money to be made here. The flesh trade soon became an organised business; pimps became 'agents' who would now move around in flashy cars, unlike in the past where the contact person was a taxi driver or paan shop owner. Pimps no longer meet clients, preferring to send women in chauffeur-driven cars with full payment to be paid in advance before they step out of the car. The services are paid for by the hour, and not night.

"It is not just about quality sex but it is about a quality experience that is more about companionship," says 26-year-old Rishab, single and an executive in a Gurgaon-based multinational company. "They are out not to hide but to flaunt," he says, adding that he considers being in the company of light-skinned women an indicator of his success.