2 minor girls forced into prostitution, rescued

Two minor girls forced into prostitution were rescued after a raid at a brothel in east Delhi’s Bhajanpura.

The brothel owner and the kingpin of the racket have been arrested, police said on Tuesday.
The victims are both 16-17 years old and hail from West Bengal.

One of them was lured to Delhi on the pretext of marriage before being forced into prostitution. The other was brought here with the promise of a job at a beauty parlour.

The raids were conducted at a house in Bhajanpura on Saturday afternoon based on a tip-off that a brothel was running from the place.

The two girls and a woman who was later found to be the brothel owner were picked up from the place.

The rescued girls would be handed over to West Bengal Police as cases were registered with local police when they had disappeared.

After interrogating the woman, police arrested Debashees Mandal, the alleged kingpin of the racket. Mandal and his gang allegedly abducted many young girls from rural West Bengal and pushed them into flesh trade in Delhi, NCR and nearby regions.

Police said an investigation in the case is on and a search has been launched for other vicims of this racket.

Mandal allegedly has a widespread network of conduits in West Bengal. They lure mainly minor and economically poor girls to Delhi on the pretext of love marriage or a job.

Once they reach Delhi, they are sold off to brothels for anywhere between Rs 60,000 and Rs 1 lakh, said police.

Some of them are supplied to other brothels on contract for a month or two at a rate of Rs 25,000-30,000 per month, police added.