Human trafficking racket busted in Ranchi, 1 arrested

RANCHI: Two girls aged 16 and 19 were rescued by the Simdega police from being sexually abused and enslaved by their ‘owners’ in Delhi.
The anti-human trafficking unit (AHTU) of Simdega busted a racket where several girls were taken to Delhi and sold at a price of Rs 50,000 each. Officer-in-charge of Simdega AHTU, RK Kujur said, “We have arrested one of the accused, Arman Alam and rescued the two girls.Two other girls from Simdega are still in Delhi and two other accused are also at large. We hope to rescue the girls from Delhi soon. Alam has been charged with kidnapping, exploitation of a trafficked person under the Juvenile Justice Act and sent to jail, we are now on the trail of the other traffickers.”
Police suspect that the girls, who are related to each other, were raped and forced to do menial jobs. “While the 16-year-old girl was sold for Rs 50,000, her aunt who is the 19-year-old girl – was sold for Rs 10,000. Alam in his confessional statement said, the remaining amount of Rs 40,000 would have been paid by the Delhi-based purchaser after she was trained in handling domestic chores or in whatever they wanted out of her,” said Kujur.
The girls were put through a thorough medical examination and the police are now awaiting their medical reports to confirm the physical and sexual abuse they were subjected to. “Both the girls were being illegally detained in Uttam Nagar in Delhi. We suspect that the men who ‘purchased’ the girls were projecting them as their wives in front of their neighbours. The girls are in a traumatised state after being subjected to numerous horrors in Delhi,” said a senior cop of Simdega.
The matter came to light after the 16-year-old girl’s father lodged a complaint with the Simdega police. Police revealed that Alam lied and misled the two girls and convinced them to accompany him to Delhi. “Posing as a placement agent, Alam promised to get them lucrative jobs in Delhi,” said Kujur.
“On May 7 Alam hired an autorickshaw for Rs 2000 and took them to Sundergarh in Orissa. There they boarded a train to Delhi on May 8. After reaching Anand Vihar station in Delhi, Alam handed the girls to two other men who introduced themselves as placement agents – Sanaul Alam alias Sonu and Tabrej Alam – who then sold the girls to two other persons whose identities are yet to be known. The girls were kept in rented apartments in Uttam Nagar in Delhi,” Kujur added.
Rishikant, an activist of Shakti Vahini, a Delhi-based voluntary outfit which works on rescue and rehabilitation of girls who fall prey to human trafficking rackets in Jharkhand said, "There are several cases from Simdega, Khunti and Gumla in Jharkhand where placement agencies have duped tribal girls and sold them off in Delhi and subjected them to mental, physical and sexual exploitation. There is an urgent need for preventive measures like skill development of the girls so that they do not fall into the clutches of these traffickers."