Information shared by a trafficking survivor from Bengal has led to the arrest of the alleged owner of a Delhi brothel where police said
she was tormented for over a year.
Veteran police officers and rights activists said trafficking survivors usually find it difficult to open up. To relive the abuse and trauma is very difficult for them. This is often a stumbling block in investigations in trafficking cases.
The woman, who hails from South 24-Parganas, was rescued from a brothel on
GB Road in Delhi on November 24, 2023.
Police sources said she was reported missing from her village in 2022. Her family filed a general diary at a police station on July 25, 2022. It was turned into an FIR on September 5 last year.
On the night of November 24, based on a tip-off, a team made up of local cops and members of more than one NGO went to the brothel and found the survivor, then aged around 20 years.
Back then, the police could not make any arrests.
The woman was brought back to Bengal and had her statement recorded — under Section 164 of the CrPC — before a magistrate on December 11 last year. A second statement was recorded on January 19.
The case was transferred to the Bengal CID soon after.
“The woman was forthcoming and specific with the information, which helped us make the first arrest in the case earlier this month,” said a police officer involved in the case, who requested anonymity.
A man, allegedly involved in trafficking the woman, was arrested at Sealdah station on February 14, the officer said.
Information from the person tallied with what the survivor had said. That is how the cops were led to the alleged brothel owner.
Bengal police sought the help of an NGO, Mission Mukti Foundation, in tracking the alleged owner of the brothel.
“Our local informants had been on her trail for a long time. Finally, we located Salma in a kothi on GB Road. Accordingly, we contacted a senior police officer in Delhi, seeking assistance for a raid,” said Virender Kumar Singh from Mission Mukti Foundation.
“She is a notorious trafficker who procured victims mainly from Bengal and Andhra Pradesh,” alleged Singh.
On Tuesday morning, a team — comprising cops from the local Kamla Nagar police station, members of the probe team from the Bengal CID’s anti-human trafficking unit and activists of Mission Mukti Foundation and Rescue Foundation — raided the brothel and arrested Salma.
Garstin Bastion Road (GB Road), between Ajmeri Gate and Lahori Gate in the walled city of old Delhi, is one of the country’s oldest red-light areas.
Salma was produced at the Tis Hazari court in Delhi, which granted the Bengal police a four-day transit remand. Salma has been brought to Bengal.
“The accused will be produced in court tomorrow. I cannot say anything before that,” said a senior CID officer.
Police sources said council for the state will pray for police custody of Salma. She has been charged under multiple sections of the IPC, including 370 (trafficking) and others.
The survivor had told her rescuers that she was brought to Delhi by a local man who offered her a “well-paying job of a domestic help”.
She is now being supported by an NGO in the South-24 Parganas.
“She is being counselled regularly. She is now part of a survivors’ collective. She has a long way to go but has shown the willingness to fight,” said a volunteer with Goranbose Gram Bikas Kendra, the NGO is South 24-Parganas.