Four Victims Rescued in Maharashtra

The four victims after their rescue

On July 7, we received intel about victims being exploited in a dhaba (roadside restaurant) in Nanded, Maharashtra. Our investigation team travelled to Nanded to verify the lead.

We faced challenges on the field and it took a week to gather intel.

On July 14, our legal team met the Nanded Superintendent of Police, SP. We told him about the victims who were being sexually exploited at the dhaba. We also told him about Freedom Firm and our mission to end sex trafficking. The SP directed us to the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU). We also spoke to an officer at the Crime Branch. After presenting all the information we had to the special police teams, we discussed rescue strategies and started to plan a rescue operation.

On July 15, at 3:30 p.m., the police and our team raided the dhaba. A room attached to the dhaba functioned as a brothel. Four women were in the room along with three men. The police and our team rescued the four women, and the police arrested the three men. 

While interviewing the women, we learned that four of them were from different parts of Maharashtra. While one woman claimed that no one coerced her into prostitution and she was there of her own free will, the other three Maharashtrian women shared that they were forced into prostitution; one of them said her husband sold her. The fourth victim was from Assam. After we collected details, and the police gathered evidence, we proceeded together to the police station with the four victims, Sheikh, Anjali, Shiv, and Namrita, and the three accused. 

At 10 p.m., the police completed filing the First Information Report (FIR) and registered it under the provisions of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. We then accompanied the victims to a nearby hospital for their medical tests. Around midnight, Sheikh, Anjali, Shiv, and Namrita were placed in a government shelter home where they remain safe.