As many as 40 victims including 15 foreign nationals have been rescued as at least seven organised immoral trafficking rackets in the last 11 months in Chandigarh have been busted. Twenty five other rescued women belong to the states including Assam, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Delhi, and Punjab. All foreign nationals belong to Thailand. All the rescued victims had been sent to shelter home, Nari Niketan from where they have been sent to their kin after completion of legal formalities. The victims were rescued between the months of March and November.
“In many of the cases, victims reportedly confessed to the investigator and counselors that they were lured and brought to Chandigarh promising hefty salaries for doing work in body massage centres without giving them hint about any flesh trade,” one of the sources said. They were rescued under Section 17 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 which mentions the rescue of victims from Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE).
In one of the cases, a kingpin, Nagraj Charles, tried to secure bail in the local court producing affidavits reportedly signed by the victims that they did not want action against the kingpin but the court refused to accept. “The court had taken a strong objection to the common surety of a man in all the affidavits signed by the victims who belong to different states,” the source added.
Charles was arrested after flesh trade racket was busted in Sector 35 in July this year. He had escaped and approached the apex court seeking anticipatory bail. The apex court had directed him to join the police investigation subsequent to which he was arrested. He is still languishing in Model Burail Jail. A chargesheet against him is likely to be filed in the court in a day or two.
“Almost all the victims are from the underprivileged section and some even from below the poverty line category. Among them are some married and mothers also. During their statements they claimed that they were promised high salary, but given merely a handful of that amount every day,” the source further said. The 15 victims from Thailand were brought to Chandigarh under a well-planned strategy. Before handing over to their kin, the UT Social Welfare Department conveyed its counterpart in the concerned states to which victims were belong, the source added.
“We have been following zero-tolerance policy on the organised immoral trafficking rackets in Chandigarh. The crackdown was launched following the feedback of the general public. Many rescued victims were from far away places including the northeast and Thailand,” SSP (UT) Kanwardeep Kaur, said.
The SSP further said that she had received anonymous letters, confidential inputs which were verified further and found to be true. “In most of the cases, arrested suspects are still behind bars. The process to submit chargesheets in all of these cases in the concerned courts is under process,” Kaur added.
Meanwhile, Dr Palika Arora, Director, Social Welfare Department said that it is their “responsibility” to
take care of the victims handed over to them at Nari Niketan shelter home. “Each victim was given intensive counselling. The feedback was shared with the counterparts of other states. The victim only allows to go when someone responsible to her comes and goes through under the legal proceedings. In this process, the victim’s consent is necessary. So far, all victims have gone from the shelter home,” Arora added.
