Victims flee building during rescue operation but are found hiding in a neighboring building

Minor Victim Rescued

On July 29th, 2025 our team got a lead that Bangladeshi victim Lubna, who our team had been trying to rescue for many months, had been spotted in a lodge in Pune.

On July 30th we were able to verify the intel - the victim was indeed Lubna and she was being exploited in the lodge. We also learned that Lubna was going to be moved to another brothel soon.  

On July 31st we gathered all the evidence we had and proceeded to meet the Superintendent of Police (SP) Nagpur Rural.  Though we were at the SP's office at 12 pm, we were told to wait as the police were in the middle of dealing with a citywide strike. During our long wait, we conveyed to the police who were present he urgency of having Lubna rescued immediately as she was about to be moved and then it would be extremely challenging to locate her again.

At 6 pm, the SP was back at the station. We were able to meet with him and share the information we had on Lubna.  He understand the gravity of the situation and promptly assigned the Crime Branch and Anti Human Trafficking Unit to initiate the rescue operation. By 6:30 pm, the Crime Branch and AHTU teams were mobilized and we discussed various rescue strategies.

Once the rescue plan was finalized the police teams and our team left for the lodge where Lubna was being exploited.  It started raining heavily which resulted in traffic jams and flooding. A little before we could reach the lodge we learned that another lodge in the same area was raided and the area was on high alert. 

The lodge where Lubna was being held had their lights turned off. We had a quick discussion and decided to go ahead with the rescue operation.  The police and our team proceeded to the lodge.

Once we entered the lodge we found only one of the lodge staff present.  The police started questioning him. When the police and our team searched inside and outside the lodge, we discovered a tin shade that someone could have jumped on from an open window and escaped to the next building. We suspected that Lubna may have done just that.

The police and our team proceeded to check the neighboring building.  One person who was at the building claimed that there were no girls there. However, one of the police officers present sensed something was amiss and proceeded to investigate a few rooms in the building. They found four women hiding in the bathroom in one of the rooms on the first floor.  Lubna was one of the women, and so was Ruhi, who was rescued in Nashik, Maharashtra, in October 2024.

Lubna seated in the middle with two of the other victims

On July 31st at 11:45 pm, all four victims were rescued. The police arrested two males (the lodge manager and his assistant.) After the police completed their initial reports the four victims, the two suspects, and our team proceeded to the police station where the police interviewed all four victims and completed filing the First Information Report.

On August 1st we were back at the police station and shared details that we had about Lubna.  The investigating officer shared that the victims would be presented in the Courts of the Judicial Magistrate First Class, JMFC.

After the victims shared their statements, the Magistrate from the JMFC ordered that the victims be sent for their medical tests and placed in a shelter home in Pune. 

On August 4th the medical test results were back and revealed that Lubna is between 16 and 18 years of age. The three other women were released from the shelter home but Lubna is remaining safely there.  We have started work on her repatriation back to Bangladesh.