DARJEELING Feb 19: The Kanchenjunga Uddhar Kendra, a Siliguri based NGO along with the Jalpaiguri police managed to rescue two girls who were trafficked to the Budhbar Peth, a redlight area in Pune. Raids are continuing for another girl who is still missing.
The brothelowner, Farida Kancha Tamang in her 50s, was arrested by the Crime Branch, Pune. Vicky Vishwakarma, 30, who had lured the girls with marriage proposals had been arrested in 2010 in a similar case.
Vishwakarma has trafficked more than 60 girls with similar proposals and sold them off to brothels in Pune and Mumbai. He is at present lodged in a Darjeeling jail.
“We had got information of the two missing girls from the Jalpaiguri district. Along with a Jalpaiguri police team, we arrived at Pune on February 15. We sought the help of the Crime Branch in Pune and Rescue Foundation, an NGO,” said Rongu Sauria of the Kanchenjunga Uddhar Kendra.
After three days of probing around, the teams finally launched a raid at Budhbar Peth and rescued one girl from Jalpaiguri. “We chanced upon a minor 16 year old also from West Bengal and rescued her too. Raids are continuing for the other girl,” added Sauria.
Narrating the incident, Sauria said, “In 2008, Vicky Vishwakarma along with two friends had approached a family in the Jalpaiguri district for the hand of their daughter. Though the family refused as the girl was a minor, Vicky managed to develop a relationship with this 16 year old girl.”
In 2008, the girl accompanied by two of her friends met Vicky Vishwakarma along with two of his friends in Siliguri. After halting for the night in a hotel in Siliguri, the girls wanted to return home the following day. Instead of sending them home, the girls were tricked into boarding a train to Patna. From Patna they were taken to Pune.
While two girls were sold to a brothel, the third girl was sold to a separate brothel. As the two girls housed in the same brothel tried to escape on a number of occasions, they too were separated. In 2012, one of the girls managed to escape and returned home.
“We counselled this girl in Jalapiguri and she finally disclosed that two of her friends are still languishing in the brothels in Budhbar Peth in Pune. This led to our team backed by the Jalpaiguri police leaving for Pune. The parents of both the girls have left for Pune,” added Sauria.
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