14-year-old, among 5, rescued from Prostitution Racket in Outer Delhi
New Delhi : Five women, which included one 14-year-old child and another 6-month pregnant girl, were rescued from a prostitution racket during a raid conducted by the Outer North Delhi Police. Acting on the tip-off and information provided by the Association for Voluntary Action, whose members had been posing as decoy customers for weeks to fetch details, the rescue and raid team arrested three people, including a middle-aged woman, accused of operating the racket from the flat in Swaroop Nagar in Delhi. An FIR has been lodged against the accused under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.
During Counselling, the child said that she was lured into this business by an acquaintance earlier last month. “Because of financial issues at home, I had asked a lady to help me find a job in a factory. She took me to one Ranjeeta, who also ran a similar racket. When I refused to do this work, they convinced me that there is a lot of money in it and it would solve all our money problems. I would attend one or two clients every day and get Rs. 1000 in return,” the child stated.
She further said that after 15 days, she came to Swaroop Nagar, where she was once again trapped in the racket. “I was paid Rs 300 every day for attending clients while they kept the rest,” she said. When asked if her parents knew about this, she simply nodded in a ‘No’. She has been shifted to a childcare home and will now be produced in front of the Child Welfare Committee.
Meanwhile, the other victim, who was pregnant, claimed that she was 25 years old but looked much younger to the rescue team. Since she refused to furnish any documents to prove her age, further medical investigation will be conducted to verify her age.
Giving insight into the entire investigation process, Manish Sharma, Senior Director, Association for Voluntary Action, stated, “Our team on the ground informed us about this racket a few weeks ago. Then another team posed as a customer and got in touch with the middleman. After days of building trust, the pimp finally asked for Rs 10,000 for supplying four minor girls. That is when we informed the police about the entire sex racket.”
“It is commendable how the police team, led by DCP of Outer North Delhi, Hareshwar Swami, acted promptly on the complaint and immediately raided the flat. Such action and operations will ensure that minor children are not trafficked and lured into such traps. While it is commendable how the law enforcement agencies have promptly acted in this case, we must be aware that this is not an isolated incident in Swaroop Nagar. We have busted similar rackets in the past as well. So we must bring the accused to justice because unless the law tightens its noose around them, the fear among such gangs will remain missing,” he further added. Association for Voluntary Action (AVA) is a partner of Just Rights for Children, which is the country’s largest network of over 250 NGOs working for child protection in 434 districts across the country.
Notably, the AVA team last month informed police about a similar prostitution racket, which led to the rescue of a 16-year-old child in Dwarka. The child had revealed that she was trafficked into the trade nearly a year ago and was forced to attend to 8 to 10 clients every night. Association for Voluntary Association is also known as Bachpan Bachao Andolan.