A gang that kidnapped minor girls to force them into prostitution has been detected at the intervention of the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights. Seven people have been arrested for abduction and child prostitution and four minor girls, who had been kidnapped from Sultanpuri in Delhi, have been rescued.
On taking up investigations into the case, the DCPCR found that young girls were kidnapped from Delhi's Sultanpuri area in 2008-09 to be groomed and forced into commercial sex later.
The Commission said it was also revealed that the gang operated through a woman, Mukesh, who served mid-day meals in a Municipal Corporation of Delhi school in Sultanpuri. She used to get in touch with the prospective child victims and then kidnap them to sell them in Rajasthan.
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A statement issued by DCPCR said enquiries by its five–member team also revealed that both Sodawas and Grivas villages were inhabited by ‘Kanjar' communities. From the statements of the Sarpanch and others about the socio-economic life, the Commission said, it was confirmed that commercial sex had for generations been family business for many people there.
Investigations further revealed that there were gangs that kidnapped young girls and sent them to these villages so that they could be groomed till they attained puberty and then forced into prostitution. “Many girls are often sent to Mumbai and Bangalore to work as bar dancers and as commercial sex workers,” the Commission said.
It also noted that instances of the girls being sold by their families also came to light. The team also collected evidence and submitted it to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) to ascertain details of the families of the rescued girls and to decide about their care, protection and rehabilitation.
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Incidentally, Delhi Police had arrested seven people in connection with the racket and four girls -- aged three, four, six and nine years -- were rescued from Grivas and Sodawas villages in Rajasthan by it. While three of the rescued girls have since been restored to their families through the Child Welfare Committee of Nirmal Chhaya Complex, Delhi, one girl is still living in a Government home.
On the expose, Commission Chairperson Amod Kanth said: “This inter-State trafficking network, involving the most vulnerable children at their youngest ages to induct them into organised sex trade, appears to be a new modus operandi. The traffickers have exploited the socio-economic deprivation coupled with superstition and beliefs among the given communities.”