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.”

Tibetans in India trace exile story

Bangalore: A three day-festival capturing the trials and tribulations of Tibetans would be organised in the IT capital to commemorate the 50 years of exile of the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, and as a mark of gratitude to India for extending refuge and support to homeless Tibetans.

"It is sad to think we have been away from home for 50 years. I left Tibet when I was four. Currently there are 1,40,000 Tibetans in exile, majority of whom were in India", Tashi, a Tibetan in exile, told reporters here today.

The festival would showcase Tibet's culture, art, medicine religion and its ancient traditions, Lobsang Choedak, press officer, deparment of informationa and international relations, Central Tibetan Administration, said.

The highlights of the festival include a panel discussion on Indo-Tibet relations by Claude Arpi (the French author of books like The Fate of Tibet) Bahakutumbi Raman, former addtional secretary, cabinet secretariat and the Tibetan born educationist Nawang Dorjee.

A discussion on climate change and its impact on the Tibetan Plateau, and Buddhism in the 21st century would also be held by experts in the field.

Tibet's journey in exile which has been documented through photographs would also be showcased at the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishad. The photo exhibiton depicts the beginning of the exiled Tibetan community and how it has transfromed over the last 50 years to become one of the most successful refugee communities in the world

Sikkim House in Bangalore proposed by STDC

GANGTOK, October 6: A team of Sikkim Tourism Development Corporation (STDC) led by its Chairman Narendra Kr Subba recently initiated few interstate tourism promotion activities during their recent visit to Karnataka in South India.

This, the STDC in a press release said was initiated keeping with the Congenial Tourism Policy of the State Government and vision of Chief Minister Pawan Chamling to make Sikkim a most attractive tourist destination.

During the visit, STDC has also tied-up with some other Tourism Development Corporations like Andhra Pradesh Tourism Dev. Corporation, Gujarat Tourism Development Corporation and international travel agencies like Thomas Cook International Travel Agency etc.

The delegation has at the same time identified a house in Bangalore city to be taken in lease after government approval, which can be operated by STDC as Sikkim House, Karnataka.

During the tour, the STDC delegates held inter-promotional talks with Jungle Lodges & Resorts Ltd. The team with APCCF and with its Managing Director, ND Tiwari, IFS, Chief Naturalist, S. Karthikeyan and its executive director visited Jungle Lodges, Bhimeswari Fishing and Nature Camp, Bandipur National Park and talked with the authorities.

On October 3, the STDC and Karnataka Tourism Dev. Corporation held a talk and reached an agreement. Talks were also held with Vinay Luthra, MD, B. Prabhudhar GM, HT Ratnakar, PRO and RS Rameshan, Marketing and Business Manager of Karnatak Tourism Dev. Corporation and NK Subba, Chairman STDC, Anbalagan IFS, CEO, STDC and other team members. This it has been hoped would bring positive results for both the states, the release said.

It is also informed that the STDC and KSTDC believes that by holding this formal talks seek to tap tourism potential of the respective states, thereby enhancing the employment generation within tourism sector, develop tourism packages, services and products and make them accessible to the public through tourism publicity.

“Our talk emphasizes to depute a staff from STDC as a Laisoning Assistant to laison between the two corporations,” the release said adding “the business transaction and booking would soon start”. The release further said that both corporations would provide marketing space in their tourism sale counters at Gangtok and Bangalore on reciprocal basis. For STDC and KSTDC, the booking of its Tourist Lodge and Package Tours would be done on-line with the help of unique dedicated user 'ID and Pass' to be allocated to other party.

“Both corporations would take up joint publicity and marketing campaign for the activities of corporations to increase revenue. Both corporations would initiate special package tours in their respective states to promote tourism and explore the possibilities of joint tourism packages. Both corporations would participate in each others', tourism fairs and festivals and assist each other in promotion of tourism products in each others' states including Road Shows 011 reciprocal basis,” it is further informed.

STDC Chairman also hoped that Bangalore can become a South-India hub for Sikkimese people. The STDC hub at Bangalore it can be hoped, would serve as a guardian of Sikkimese people simultaneously promoting business and tourism for our state,” Mr. Subba said in the release.