She escaped from home in Bangladesh when she flunked a subject at school, and ended up in a sex racket in India, across the border, where 200 men raped her over three months since this is what a 14-year-old girl rescued from Maharashtra's Palghar district reportedly told the police and her rescuers.
The child was rescued by the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of the Mira-Bhayander Vasai-Virar Police, jointly with NGOs Exodus Road India Foundation and Harmony Foundation.
Six out of the 10 people arrested till date after a raid at a flat in Naigaon in Vasai on July 26 are Bangladeshi nationals. They are three of the five victims, including the 14-year-old girl, who were allegedly trafficked to various places, including Navi Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra, as well as locations in Gujarat and Karnataka, too.
In her confession at a juvenile detention facility, the 14-year-old girl said she was trafficked to Nadiad in Gujarat for the first time and then subjected to abuse, a police officer told PTI.
Harmony Foundation president Abraham Mathai stated that the girl had flunked in a subject in school, following which she eloped from home. She was then forced to cross the border into India illegally by a woman she knew, who then smuggled her into the flesh trade, Mathai was quoted as saying.
Police authorities also indicated the girl could have been injected with hormonal shots to cause premature puberty, and sedatives in order to prevent her from escaping.
The agents and traffickers marked her with a hot spoon to make her surrender, an official informed PTI. Human rights activist Madhu Shankar informed the news agency that there are various cases of girls being kidnapped as infants and then pushed into flesh trade at the age of minors when given such injections.
Among those arrested following the Palghar raid are prime accused Mohammad Khalid Abdul Bapari (33), who is accused of trafficking the victims to other cities; and Juber Harun Sheikh (38) and Shamim Gafar Sardar (39), who are accused of being agents as well.
Efforts are being made to untangle a larger racket. MBVV police chief Niket Kaushik stated that teams have been sent to different locations in the country.
A case was filed on July 27 under sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Juvenile Justice Act, Foreigners Act and the Passport Act, the police informed.
