Monday, July 04, 2011

Girls from Sikkim & Darjeeling rescued from Bangalore flesh trade

The central crime branch (CCB) police on Friday arrested five persons, including a 50-year-old woman, for allegedly trafficking innocent women and forcing them into flesh trade. Police have rescued nine women in Vivekanagar.Darjeeling district-based Anju Singh alias Maria Singh, 50, Muskan Roy, 28, Devagan Roy, 20 and Krishna, 27, and Rakesh, 37, from Vivekanjagar, were arrested on Friday after a raid at a house in Vivekanagar.The accused brought girls from Darjeeling & Sikkim , promising them job opportunities in the city.The innocent women walked into the trap, were forcefully pushed into flesh trade and detained in the city.
Based on a tip-off, the CCB police conducted a raid and arrested five persons. Nine women were rescued, of which eight hail from West Bengal and one is a resident of Sikkim.Investigations revealed that the pimps charged ¤5,000 to ¤10,000 for each girl.A case has been registered in Viveknagar police station.

With the exemplary initiative of Bangalore Police, Mankind in Action for Rural Growth (MARG, NGO) Darjeeling and Arz, nine girls from Darjeeling and Sikkim and other north eastern states were rescued and at the same time five traffickers one lady the kingpin Ms. Marina Singh Rana alias “ Anju Aunty” of Champasari, Siliguri, Mr. Amit Singh alias “Muskan” of Bijanbari along with Mr. Rakesh Birsha, Mr. Devgan Rai and Mr. Krishna Singh were nabbed by Police, which is a great breakthrough of police conducted in recent time in regards to human trafficking. Talking to the spokesperson of MARG Mr. Nirnay John Chhetri over the phone informed about the success of the raid was jointly carried out by Bangalore Crime Branch and MARG taking help of the local NGO’S of Bangalore.Informing further Mr. Chhetri said that the raid was the result of information provided by Mankind in Action for Rural Growth (MARG) an organization based in Darjeeling through a local web portal Darjeeling Times that, women and young girls are being commercially and sexually exploited from the hills to Bangalore.

MARG forwarded the information through the web portal   http://www.stoptrafficking.in. The portal was conceived by Arz social work organization working towards combating human trafficking. After initial verification by Arz and MARG, about the authenticity of the information Arz reported the matter to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. As per the direction received by the referral representative of Arz and MARG, they visited Bangalore and met the Police authorities along with the non-government organizations and reported the matter of trafficking of girls from Darjeeling, Siliguri, Sikkim to Bangalore.The local NGO and the police decided to go for surveillance of the area along with to trace the activities of the victims and traffickers in Bangalore based on the information reported. After the surveillance and collection of necessary information a raid was conducted by the Crime Branch, Bangalore under the supervision of Joint Commissioner of Police, Bangalore Mr. Alok Kumar, during which 9 girls were rescued and 5 traffickers were arrested. The arrested traffickers included the kingpin Ms. Marina Singh Rana, her body guard Mr. Amit Singh alias Muskan from Bijanbari, Mr. Rakesh Birsha, Mr. Devgan Rai and Mr. Krishna Singh.Ms. Marina is known for trafficking girls for commercial sexual exploitation from the Hills of Darjeeling. Ms. Marina is known to be the native of Champasari Siliguri and during the interrogation, it was found that she have managed to construct a huge building at Champasari out of the money made by flesh trade. Ms. Marina has married three times and has involved her own son Mr. Ajay Singh alias ‘Ajju’ for carrying out flesh trade along with her.

The notorious human trafficker Mr. Singh is reported to be the permanent resident of New Delhi and during Ms. Marina’s absence in Bangalore used to supervise Ms. Marina’s commercial sexual activities. Most of the girls trafficked by Ms. Marina are from North-East and the Hills of Darjeeling, according to the report available to NGO, informed Mr. Chettri.

The victim girls in their statement to the police shared that, they were brought by Ms. Marina in the name of availing job in beauty parlors and malls but later on she forced them into practicing prostitution. They also revealed that they had to satisfy six to seven customers in a day and till date no payments of any kind is given by the main kingpin Ms. Marina. Furthermore, one of the victims informed that she was not allowed to go home even though she told that her mother back home was seriously ill. The girls also stated that they
were physically tortured when they were not able to get any clients. The names and address of the nine girls have not been revealed for maintaining their privacy. Adding more Mr. Chettri said that “I am sorry that I am not able to share the details of the 9 girls who were rescued form commercial sexual exploitation in Bangalore for the reason best known to all. We know that they are from the Hills of Darjeeling and Sikkim and presently they are all in the protective home of Bangalore and process of repatriating them is on.”

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