Five rescued from prostitution racket

RHFI member alerted police after receiving calls from people either seeking or offering girls.

In a case of mistaken identity, some people were calling a Syed Abbas, a member of RHFI and assumed that they were talking to a pimp.

Though Abbas was disturbed by the unsolicited calls, he noticed an even more disturbing detail and helped the police crack a prostitution racket involving parents and their daughters.

On February 15, the K.G. Halli police rescued five minors aged between 12 and 14 years. They were allegedly forced into this line of work by their parents or guardians. Six people, including three women, were arrested.

The police were able to crack this case because of the lead provided by Debashis Rationalist and Syed Abbas. Syed Abbas is  a member of Human Rights Protection Council  and Rationalists’ and Humanists’ Forum of India.

In the first week of February, Abbas started receiving calls from a woman who insisted on calling him Amjad. “She kept asking me whether I wanted girls.”

With every passing day, the number of such calls kept increasing. The callers were either seeking girls or enquiring if girls were needed. He realised that there was something sinister afoot.

On February 11, when he received a call from a woman asking for Amjad, he handed the phone to Debashis. Debashis struck up a conversation with her pretending to be Amjad. He convinced her to bring the girls to a friend’s house in HBR Layout. Then, they approached the local police.

On February 15,  Debashis and Abbas waited in the house in HBR Layout accompanied by a police team.

At the preassigned time, a woman arrived with two girls. She introduced herself as Muneera from Mulbagil in Kolar district. The girls were her daughters aged 12 and 14.

When questioned by the police, she claimed to being earning Rs. 50,000 a month as part of a prostitution ring. She was arrested.

She led them to two more women and three pimps. All of them have been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Juvenile Justice Act.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg. We are ascertaining the involvement of others in the racket,” a senior police officer said.

Children Sexually harassed in Yogacharya Vivekananda Seva Samiti. Maharaj Dinabandhu arrested

Several maharaj and functionaries of Yogacharya Vivekananda Seva Samiti are allegedly involved in sexual harassment on its children inmates.

 

An ashram at Aamdanga village in Bankura’s Simlapal is under scanner for alleged physical and sexual abuse on its children inmates by a section of its functionaries and maharaj.

The incident has come to light after seven of the 73 children residing in the ashram fled yesterday and walked their way to a relative’s house at Simplapal Bazar located some 5 km away. The children narrated their ordeal to the relative, who in turn has now lodged a FIR against the ashram authorities at the Simlapal police station.

The ashram, Yogacharya Vivekananda Seva Samiti, has mostly orphan inmates aged between 06-08 years. This apart, some poor scheduled tribe and scheduled caste category children from Purulia also reside there as their families are unable to support their education.

Seven such children fled yesterday morning due to alleged physical and sexual exploitation by some Maharajs at the ashram and walked for five km to reach the house of the aunt of one of them. On hearing their ordeal, the aunt, Bakul Dule, lodged an FIR at Simplapal police station last night.

Based on that, Maharaj Dinabandhu was arrested.

While police have begun an investigation, the ashram authorities have outright denied the charges.

The block development officer of Simlapal, Tapan Mandal, have said that action would be taken against the ashram if the allegations are proved true in police investigation.