How a pregnant woman saved her 16-year-old sister from sex trade traffickers
The victim was traumatised, had cigarette burn marks on her apart from other injuries. A man from West Bengal had lured the girl by promising marriage.
In Short
- A pregnant woman saved her sister from sex trade.
- The 16-year-old victim was located in GB Road.
- she is a native of West Bengal.
A pregnant woman tricked a prostitution syndicate into giving up its whereabouts that led to the rescue of her 16-year-old sister who was being drugged, tortured and forced to have sex with about 20 clients a day. The teenager from West Bengal was trapped in Delhi's biggest red-light district, GB Road, for nearly five months.
She got freedom only after two raids were conducted in four months at the brothels in the area. Fearing police action, the syndicate sent her back home with the help of a customer. She was traumatised, had cigarette burn marks on her apart from other injuries. A man from West Bengal had lured the girl by promising marriage.
He would call her frequently on her mother's mobile phone. She eloped with him in May, leaving everything behind at her home. From Diamond Harbour, she was taken to Kolkata and then brought to Delhi by train. As soon as she reached the Capital, the trafficker sold her to a pimp at GB Road where she was thrown into a dimly lit room with two other girls who were older than her. "The madam used to give us meals only twice a day and if any customer complained about me, I was left to starve. From Day 1, I was forced into prostitution. Men of my father's age used to avail the services," she told the police.
Her schedule started at 10 in the morning, when she was supposed to get ready with attractive clothes, combed hair and make-up. "From 11am, customers used to visit the brothels and the first shift ended at 4pm. Then food was served where we were not allowed to demand more. Daal, roti, sabzi was the daily menu.
After a few hours of rest, we were supposed to bathe and get ready for the evening shift. From 8pm to 4.30am, I was supposed to entertain the customers," she recalled. "After completion of the shift, we were given food.
Then we were allowed to sleep in those tiny rooms where we could not even move an inch after lying down." One day, the teen managed to call her mother from a customer's cellphone and informed her family that she was in a red-light area in Delhi. The information was shared with West Bengal Police and a raid was conducted at GB Road with the help of Delhi cops. But the girl could not be found. Her sister, who is ninemonth pregnant, called on the number of that customer and hung up.
He called back and, after hearing a woman's voice at the other end, struck up a conversation. The sister said, "Dada, I called you by mistake," and kept talking, displaying interest in him. He asked her to visit Delhi, promising to take care of her expenses. He then shared his photograph and address with her. She passed on the information to West Bengal police and then to Delhi police.
The man was detained at Barakhamba Road police station and he confirmed that the girl was at a GB Road brothel. He also promised cops to help in the raid. However, a search with the help of NGO Shakti Vahini failed to find her. Meanwhile, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal issued summons to 125 brothel owners on GB Road and asked them to appear before the panel.
The consecutive raids by cops and the DCW notice scared the pimps into releasing the girl. A person accompanied her till Diamond Harbour station and gave her `3,000 in cash. Before leaving, he asked her to withdraw all the police cases and return to GB Road to earn money.
Speaking to Mail Today, Sudeshna Roy, member of West Bengal's protection of child rights commission, said she met the victim on Friday. The girl is traumatised and is in a rescue home for a month to continue her counselling. Narrating the victim's ordeal, she said, "On a regular basis, she was given a drink laced with sedatives, after which she used to feel dizzy. Whenever she refused, she was beaten up and kept starving." The other two girls with whom the victim shared the room, known as tahkhana, were allegedly injected with drugs daily.
"The customers used to pay as little as `350 per service. The money was given to the pimp and sometimes the customer used to give a tip of Rs 50. But the girls are not supposed to keep the tips and the money was snatched from them," the victim said.
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