A 15-year old girl rescued from a hotel in Hingna, Nagpur
Our Investigators where posing as undercover customers to speak with Anil, a handler. Anil reached out to us on June 25th, 2023, saying he had a 'nice minor girl' that was available. He then sent us her picture with a condition he couldn’t bring her to a hotel. Since she was a minor it would create problems. We insisted. He relented. (The location of a meeting is an important factor in planning a rescue and gathering evidence.) He then introduced us to a couple who, like him, were pimping out girls. They also had some ‘nice girls’. We met one girl in their house. She was a minor indeed. Both parties were happy for different reasons; the couple believed they were getting regular clients, and we knew they had led us to one more minor to be rescued from the ugly world prostitution, and also exposed themselves for arrest.
Not wasting any time, we proceeded to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP, Crime Branch, and presented all the information we had. He connected us to a police officer who would lead the rescue. Unfortunately that police officer and her team were busy with a law and order situation. We told the DCP that the officer was not available, he connected us with another police officer. That police officer too was unavailable and engaged in another matter. The DCP reached out to another officer who finally was available and could get a team ready for the rescue operation.
We met the officer who would be initiating the rescue with his team at his office. We presented him with all the evidence that we had on the victim and brothel keeper. We discussed rescue strategies and after finalizing a plan, we went to the location where the handler/pimp would bring the victim.
The location was 25 kms (~15 miles) away. We arrived and waited. After three hours, the handler brought the victim to the hotel. Once we had confirmation that it was the same victim we were tracking, at 8:15 pm, the police and our team raided the brothel. We found the victim on the first floor with a customer, she was rescued and our social workers provided her with immediate care. The police arrested Anil and the other handler that he had introduced us to earlier. The police wanted to arrest the wife as well, but she was missing.
The police collected evidence from the brothel and wrote their initial report. The victim, the accused and our team proceeded to the crime branch (special department in the police station). By the time the police officer completed the initial report, it was 4 am. We then went to the Hingna Police station in Nagpur with the victim and accused. The victim shared her details and the police registered a First Information Report. All procedures were completed at 6:30 am and the victim was placed in a shelter home in Nagpur while the accused continued to remain in police custody.
The victim, Shalu, was produced before the Child Welfare Committee, CWC, who ordered medical tests for her. Since Shalu is only 15 years old, she will continue to live in the shelter home in Nagpur. We were also thrilled when the CWC gave us permission to include Shalu in our rehabilitation program that we run in the shelter home and follow up on all the legal matters in her case.