The social service branch of Mumbai Police has rescued two minors and arrested one person for making them victims of a prostitution racket. One of the rescued minors has been found to be pregnant and so the officials will be registering a case of rape too.
The incident came to light on Wednesday, when SS branch team received information that minor girls were being solicited in the Andheri (east) area.
“We received information about a woman who was the handler or pimp for the children. We prepared a trap for her by contacting her as customers and asked her to meet us in Andheri,” said an SS branch official. Around 10 pm on Wednesday, the woman accompanied by two children reached a hotel near Andheri station where the SS branch officials nabbed her.
The police revealed that the two girls are of 14 and 16 years of age and are school dropouts. “They are both residents of Ambernath and were lured into this after being promised fashionable clothes for doing household work at rich people’s homes,” said the officer. When the girls were questioned and made to undergo medical tests, the police were shocked to find that the 16-year-old girls was about two-months pregnant. “We spoke to her to find out whether she knew anything about the pregnancy but she was clueless about it. We will be sending her for further tests and will try to get more information from her about the racket,” said the source.
Since the girl is a minor, the SS branch has also contacted Andheri police station to register an offence of rape. The woman who brought the girls to Andheri has been identified as Najma Shaikh, a neighbour of the girls’ families. “We have also found that one of the girls’ mother is also involved and was the one who first initiated her into prostitution. She is absconding right now and we have started looking for her,” the officer said. Speaking about the racket, the official said that these girls would be sent to houses in Thane, Andheri and Mira Road area and sometimes they would stay in the same house for over eight to 10 days. “The girls are very scared and are not revealing much. We are hoping they will be able to provide information about the houses and areas they were sent to so that we can track down other culprits,” she said.
The minors were produced in front of the Child Welfare Committee and have been kept in the children’s home in Dongri.
The arrested accused has been booked under relevant section of the IPC and remanded to police custody.
