Myanmarese women rescued from red light area

UJJAL BHATTACHARYYA, EOI, 4 June 2014: Acting on a tip off, the Siliguri detective department police today rescued two Myanmarese women and a four-month-old child from the red light area of Khalpara. A local woman named Maya Khatun (45) has been arrested for purchasing the two women from traffickers and forcing them to enter into prostitution. The two victims and the accused were presented at the Siliguri Court in the afternoon.

Police sources said the women are aged about 30 years and were sold to Khatun some nine months ago. One of them is married is the mother of the four-month-old, while the other is unmarried.

According to the victims’ account, they are from a very poor family in Myanmar. Along with three male members of their family, they had entered India illegally via Bangladesh about nine months ago. When they reached the Hili check post at the Indo-Bangladesh border in South Dinajpur district, the three male members were apprehended by Indian security forces but the two women managed to avoid being arrested.

They were helpless in unknown territory as the three men were no longer present to guide them in India. Incidentally, the two women met a couple the same who provided them shelter for the night. The next day, the couple asked the victims if they were willing work as housemaids in Siliguri. The women agreed, but they were duped and sold off instead to Khatun.

The married woman was pregnant when they entered Indian territory. She gave birth to a child at the brothel in Khalpara about four months ago. Meanwhile, the three arrested male members of their family have been found at a refugee camp in Delhi.

Siliguri deputy police commissioner OG Pal said the police will hand over the two women and the child to their family at the earliest.