On March 23rd, at 3:20 in the afternoon, the police and our team rescued Ruha, who was being forced into prostitution. She was found in a hotel situated at a rural location approximately 30 kms from Nagpur. Ruha is 27 years old and was trafficked from her home country, Nepal. The police arrested the handler, a man approximately 40 years old and are on the look out for the hotel manager who is approximately 30-35 years old and managed to escape during the raid. Read below for details of the rescue.
The Rescue:
March 22nd: Our team was following up a lead about a 27 year old Nepali woman who was forced into prostitution in a hotel 40 kms from Nagpur. When we visited the hotel, we found Ruha, the Nepali woman right away. We also learned that she was going to be moved to Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh in a few days. We immediately presented the evidence to the Superintendent of Police in rural Nagpur and then to the Anti Human Trafficking Unit in Nagpur. Since the G20 summit was taking place that day, most of the police force was deployed to maintain law and order across the city so the police were unable to initiate a
rescue that day.
March 23rd: After coordinating with the police, we left for a location near the hotel and waited for the police to arrive. Once everyone arrived we discussed a rescue strategy.
At 3:20 pm the police raided the hotel and rescued Ruha from one of the rooms. The police grabbed a man who turned out to be the handler, but the hotel manager managed to escape. After the police bagged evidence and made their preliminary report, Ruha, the accused, and our team proceeded to the police station.
After the police wrote the First Information Report, we accompanied Ruha for her medical tests after which she was placed in a shelter home in Nagpur. All procedures were completed by 2:00 am.
The next morning we met Ruhu at the court. She shared her statement before the judge. The judge ordered the accused to remain in police custody.