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
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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