City’s seamy underbelly thrives on forced entertainment and prostitution by young girls, including minors trafficked from Bangladesh with the help of cross-border agents, pimps and clients, who are willing to throw money for one-night stand but don’t hesitate to use brute force if the girl refuses to oblige. “We are beaten up by the clients and the agent if we refuse to comply. We don’t get a single day off,” said an 18-year-old Jabeen (name changed).
The Kodigehalli police last weekend raided two houses in Byataraya npura, Hebbal and rescued 23 girls, including three minors, most of who are originally from Bangladesh and were smuggled in by Indian and Bangladeshi agents to Kolkata from where they were sent to Bengaluru and other metros. The police arrested three accused – the lodge owners where the girls were taken to entertain their clients and three women, who abetted the crime. The main accused, known to the victims as ‘Pundit’ from Bengaluru, is absconding. The three minors were produced before the Child Welfare Commission – II and the adults were produced before the magistrate and are now in the State home for women.
Rehana (name changed) (17) has been trafficked twice. Originally from Kolkata, she lived with her mother in Mumbai when she was sold to an agent for prostitution. After the police raided the brothel, Rehana was sent back to her mother, who sold her daughter again; this time to ‘Pundit,’ who a fortnight ago brought her to Bengaluru and pushed her back into the flesh trade.
Rukhsana (name changed) (17) is from Bangladesh. “My father sold me to a man in our village near Dhaka, who married me but was very violent and abusive. I met a man – ‘Laltu,’ who told me that he would get me a job in city and that he had taken other girls in the past and got them employment. I came away with him. He took me to Kolkata along with some other girls. Crossing over to India wasn’t a problem. Laltu carried some papers, which he showed to the Indian officials and we were allowed to cross the border. We were brought to Bengaluru three weeks ago,” said Ruksana. The girls told Deccan Chronicle that every evening around 7 they were taken to a spot near a mall in Kempapura where the clients came in their cars and took them to private homes or lodges. They were brought back to the same spot the next morning.
