HYDERABAD: The Crime Investigation Department (CID) rescued 39 female victims, including eight minors, from the clutches of an organised human trafficking gang at Gowtham Nagar, Chandrapur district in Maharashtra. Additional DG (CID) Satyanarain on Friday said 18 majors and six minors belonged to Telangana, 11 majors and 2 minors to Maharashtra and one major each belonged to Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
About 46 were found to be involved in the flesh trade and 44 of them were arrested. They have been remanded in judicial custody for 15 days. The officer said that of all the accused, 30 are females, of whom 12 are from TS, 13 from Maharashtra and two each from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
Seven minor boys, who were found to be assisting the accused, have also been nabbed and handed over to the Maharashtra Police.
“The victims were lured under the pretext of providing jobs and then transported to Chandrapur where a number of brothels are in operation. They were detained in sub-human conditions, threatened with dire consequences and forcefully subjected to prostitution,” said the CID chief adding that a process of mapping the source points, destination points and also transit routes was also in progress.
alarming figures
Police have registered 422 cases of human trafficking and rescued 607 victims, this year. 671 traffickers were arrested.
The operation was conducted with the participation of as many as 138 personnel, including members from the Department of Women and Child Welfare, Medical and Health Department and members of Prajwala, an NGO, apart from Telangana and Maharashtra Police. 30 victims, including minors, were sent to Prajwala and nine to Ujwala rescue home. Five more were sent to the Uppal Home and four to the Kasturba Gandhi memorial trust.
In this year, the police have registered 422 cases of human trafficking and rescued 607 victims. As many as 671 traffickers and 325 customers were arrested. The department’s proposal to the government for setting up anti-human trafficking units in each district is under active consideration. Currently, there are three such units in the states.