Nearly 50 of more than 300 women rescued by the Mumbai Police from brothels during a late-night raid on Thursday could be minors, the police said on Friday.
“We are still in the process of verification. We believe that 50 girls are minor. They have been sent for medical examination,” Additional Commissioner of Police (South Region) Krishna Prakash told The Hindu and added: “Seventy women are accused as they are the brothel-owners or runners.”
The police rounded up 527 people during the raid on a five-storied building in the Grant Road area. Of them, more than 130 are women and more than 340 men.
Officers at the DB Marg police station said they had not yet arrested anyone as the identification and verification process was taking a long time. “There are no foreigners among the women. We will finish all the procedure and produce these persons in the court tomorrow [Saturday],” said an officer.
The police said there were street hawkers among those detained. “Not all of them are customers or pimps. Some had come to sell flowers, some were selling food items. We will identify them, verify their details and then take suitable action,” a police officer said.
