NEWS ON SHAKTI VAHINI

Abducted Malda schoolgirl rescued from Haryana

Posted in ANTI TRAFFICKING by NNLRJ INDIA on December 2, 2012

MALDA GIRL RESCUED IN HARYANATIMES OF INDIA

NEW DELHI: A 15-year-old girl from West Bengal, whose kidnapping sparked off communal tension in parts of Malda district 11 months ago, has been rescued from Haryana’s Kaithal district after a joint rescue operation by police from Haryana, West Bengal and Delhi, and the NGO Shakti Vahini. Rishi Kant, a representative of Shakti Vahini, said the girl was kidnapped by a man named Sandeep and his friend when she was returning from school in Malda. He said she was intimidated with a knife and taken to the nearest railway station. “From there, she was brought to Delhi by train and taken to Sandeep’s house at Sirta Road in Kaithal.”

Kant said Sandeep kept the girl with him after paying Rs 50,000 to his accomplice. He allegedly used her as a slave, forcing her do household chores and have sex. “She was four-and-a-half months pregnant at the time of rescue,” said an investigating officer. The girl’s family had reported her missing at the Harishchandrapur police station in Malda, West Bengal in October, 2011. Her father said she had called up her brother-in-law and related her plight, but she was not able to specify her location. “After she called, I informed local cops,” he said.

The girl’s grandfather then came to Kaithal and called on her number. He was asked to come to the house where she was being held, and beaten up for demanding her release. He returned home and informed the West Bengal Police. SP (Malda), JK Pal, informed Shakti Vahini about the case and also sent a letter to its director for assisting the police team in rescuing the girl in Haryana. The NGO contacted the ADGP (Crime Against Women, Haryana), K Selvaraj, for assistance. The girl was traced to Sirta Road, Kaithal and rescued. After counselling, she was taken for medical examination and then produced before the Child Welfare Committee. She will be taken back to Malda on Monday by train.

ONE GIRL FROM WEST BENGAL RESCUED FROM G.B. ROAD : BROUGHT TO DELHI BY LURING HER OF MARRIAGE

Posted in ANTI TRAFFICKING, FIGHT SLAVERY, SHAKTI VAHINI by NNLRJ INDIA on August 17, 2012

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Aug 17 (PTI) A 19-year-old girl from West Bengal, who was lured to the capital by a youth on pretext of marriage but was sold to a prostitution ring, was rescued from the redlight area in central Delhi, police said today. The girl from South-24 Paragana was rescued from G B Road yesterday on a tip off provided by an NGO ‘Shakti Vahini’ after the victim’s father approached them, Devesh Srivastava, Additional Commissioner of Police (Central), said.

DELHI POLICE PRESS RELEASE DATED 17.08.2012
PRESS RELEASE                                               CENTRAL DISTRICT
ONE GIRL FROM WEST BENGAL RESCUED FROM G.B. ROAD : BROUGHT TO DELHI BY LURING HER OF MARRIAGE

On 16-08-2012, one girl aged about19 years was rescued from GB Road by the police staff of P.S. Kamla Market, Central District, Delhi with the help of ‘Shakti Vahini’, an NGO.

INCIDENT AND TEAM

On 16-08-2012, one person in distress belonging to District Sarisapara, District South 24 Pargana, West Bengal along with a representative of Shakti Vahini, NGO approached SHO/ Kamla Market and stated that his daughter namely Sangeeta (name changed), aged about 19 years was missing from District South 24 Pargana, West Bengal. A case vide u/s 363/366A/373 IPC was registered at P.S. Usthi 24 Pargana West Bengal in this regard. He further stated that she is confined at Kotha No- 59, IInd Floor, G.B. Road, Delhi against her wishes and desires to be freed from there.  This information was further developed. After developing the intelligence, a team comprising of Inspr. Parmod Joshi, SHO/Kamla Market, Inpsr. Binod Kumar, ATO/Kamla Market, SI Ajay Singh, H.C. Baljeet and W/Ct. Sarita was constituted under the close supervision of  Sh. Ram Kumar, ACP/Kamla Market. The representative of NGO ‘Shakti Vahini’ was also associated with the team.Thereafter, in late evening of 16.08.2012, a raid was conducted at Kotha No. 59, IInd Floor, GB Road, Delhi and the missing girl Sangeeta (name changed) aged about 19 years was rescued by the police team of PS Kamla Market, Central District, Delhi.   An intimation has been given to P.S. Usthi 24 Pargana West Bengal in this regard. Further investigation/interrogation is in progress.

 INVESTIGATION

During investigation, the rescued girl stated that she belonged to a poor family. She is illiterate. She was lured by one boy on the pretext of marrying her and brought to Delhi.  But instead of marrying her, the boy sold the girl at Kotha No. 59, IInd Floor, G.B. Road, Delhi.  The girl is being produced before CWC, Delhi for taking further course of legal action.

(DEVESH CHANDRA SRIVASTVA), IPS
ADDL. COMMISSIONER OF POLICE,
CENTRAL DISTRICT, DELHI

Minor help rescued from Gurgaon

Posted in ANTI TRAFFICKING, FIGHT SLAVERY, SHAKTI VAHINI by NNLRJ INDIA on August 12, 2012

Minor help rescued from Gurgaon

Minor help rescued from Gurgaon

HINDUSTAN TIMES

A 10-year-old domestic help, from Moradabad in UP, was rescued from a house in Belvedere Park building in DLF Phase 2 on Saturday evening. Acting on a tip-off, a team comprising officials of the district child protection department, police and NGO Shakti Vahini raided the house.and rescued the girl.“We have conducted the girl’s medical examination and are awaiting the report. She has been sent to a shelter home. We are investigating the matter and will file an FIR against the accused,” said a police official.

Traffickers rob Sunderbans kids of childhood

Posted in ANTI TRAFFICKING, FIGHT SLAVERY, SHAKTI VAHINI by NNLRJ INDIA on August 6, 2012

Sumati Yengkhom in TIMES OF INDIA

Patharpratima (South 24 Parganas): In July 2009, 10-year-old Farzara (all names changed) disappeared from Patharpratima’s Kishori Nagar. Three years have passed since then, but the girl remains untraced till now. Her parents fear the girl has been sold off to some brothel by traffickers.

“I fear that my daughter must have been thrown into flesh trade by now. It pains me when I think of the trauma she must be going through. Whatever condition she may be in, we want her back home,” the girl’s father lamented.Few kilometres away in Bhagatpur, Supratim Maji has been regretting sending her 15-year-old daughter off to Delhi for work. Anjali had left home in April 2007. The prospect of working as a domestic help, which would ensure the girl proper food and a few hundred rupees, was too lucrative. The family agreed when a ‘placement agency’ proposed that he girl be sent with them.

“We are too poor to feed our children. We thought by sending her off she would at least get food to eat,” regretted Maji.

Pockets in South 24-Parganas, specially Sandeshkhali and Patharpratima, have emerged as a hot spot for traffickers over the years. Police officers and NGOs working on the issue are concerned about the vulnerability of children from these regions. “There is an spurt in the number of minors missing from the pockets of the Sunderbans after Aila wrecked havoc in the island,” admitted a senior police officer.

The recorded number of minors missing from Patharpratima in 2011 alone was 39 while this year, the number stands at 19 till date. NGOs, however, said that the actual number could be much higher.

“Many cases go unreported. Sometimes, parents keep mum as long as they get money. Therefore, the actual number of missing children could be much higher. Moreover during raid and rescue we come across cases of minors who were not reported missing in the respective police stations ,” said Rishi Kant of Shakti Vahini, a Delhi-based NGO.

In majority of the cases, parents themselves send their children with these ‘agencies’. They inform the police only when they fail to communicate with their children. However, police have been successful is rescuing some such children. “I fell into the trap of a neighbour who took me away on the pretext of giving me a job. I smelt a rat only when he confined me in a house in some nearby town. I shiver at the very thought of those tormenting days,” said a 18 year-old who was rescued by the police about six months ago.

As the girl broke down narrating her past ordeal in her Dholahat hut, DSP Papiya Sultana of the anti-trafficking unit of the district assured the girl of support. Egged on by the police, the girl completed Class XII this year. Police now plans to enroll her in computer training programme. The girl is now looking ahead to live a new life.

“I only know what I went through during my seven year stay in a Pune brothel. But I bore everything silently as there was no escape,” recounted Reshma. She now in her twenties however is back home after a police rescued her. On her tips police also nabbed the woman who ran the brothel and rescued six more girls hailing from different parts of south 24 Parganas.

National Commission for Protection of Child Rights team to publish report on rampant trafficking in West Bengal

Posted in ANTI TRAFFICKING, FIGHT SLAVERY, SHAKTI VAHINI, VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN by NNLRJ INDIA on July 28, 2012
English: South 24 Parganas district, West Beng...

English: South 24 Parganas district, West Bengal, India (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

TIMES OF INDIA

NEW DELHI: A team from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights(NCPCR) which had toured Bengal in view of the rising number of missing children in the state is busy preparing the final report which is expected to be tabled next week. The move comes in the midst of data recently published by NCRB stating that the state ranks poorly when it comes to tackle trafficking. The three member delegation consisting of – Vinod Kumar Tikoo, Shaista Khan, senior consultant, NCPCR and Debayani Bose, media consultant NCPCR reached Kolkata last week to have a dialogue with the West Bengal administration on Child Protection issues. The NGO Shakti Vahini helped the team in Kolkata with the purpose of linking the source and destination of the human trafficking areas.

A NCPCR official said that the The Anti Human Trafficking Units of West Bengal should play the pro active role in fighting this social evil. “Meetings were organized with the NGOs working there and also with the district administration of the concerned districts. The delegation will also had a dialogue with the concerned stakeholders of child protection like medical department, education department and police,” said the official.

The delegation visited the affected districts like South 24 Parganas, Malda and Murshidabad which are most prone to child trafficking. They also met V V Thambi, DGP, CID (West Bengal) and discuss about the status of child trafficking in West Bengal. The meeting focused on the NGO-AHTU partnership of source and destination. As a part of this visit, the team also attended a programme organized by Salaap NGO in which documents related to child protection were released and also discussion on Reintegration of trafficked children took place. According to Rishi Kant of Shakti Vahini the visit is very important considering the state as most trafficked prone area and a strategy needs to be developed to combat the menace.

Two minor girls rescued from Old Delhi station

Posted in ANTI TRAFFICKING, FIGHT SLAVERY, SHAKTI VAHINI by NNLRJ INDIA on July 24, 2012
Two minor girls rescued from Old Delhi station

Two minor girls rescued from Old Delhi station

HINDUSTAN TIMES

Two minor girls, trafficked from West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district by agents of a placement agency for engaging them as domestic helps in Delhi, were rescued by the crime branch of Delhi Police on Sunday morning. The girls were rescued from Old Delhi railway station after they arrived there by Mahananda Express with four persons who had brought them to Delhi on the pretext of providing good job.

A placement agency owner and his four agents, including two women, were also arrested by the police for allegedly trafficking the minor girls.

The arrested persons have been identified as Ravi Soren, the owner of the placement agency who runs the business from his office in north Delhi’s Shakurpur, and his agents-Satyam, Kiran Chetri, Maini Chetri and Laxmi.

All the four agents hail from Jalpaiguri and were working for Soren, said a senior police officer.

Sanjay Kumar Jain, DCP (crime and railways), said the minor girls were rescued following a tip-off provided by the members of Shakti Vahini, an NGO actively involved in the rescue of trafficked children.

“They informed us that some minor girls from Jalpaiguri are being brought to Delhi. A raid was conducted and two minor girls were rescued from the Old Delhi railway station. We also arrested four persons who brought the girls to Delhi,” said Jain.

During interrogation, the DCP said, the accused revealed that the rescued girls were to be handed over to a placement agency owner.

“At their instance, we arrested Ravi Soren, the placement agency owner. We are questioning the accused to find out how many other minor girls were trafficked to Delhi by them,” added Jain.

Couple held for torturing domestic help

Posted in ANTI TRAFFICKING, FIGHT SLAVERY, JUVENILE JUSTICE, SHAKTI VAHINI by NNLRJ INDIA on June 16, 2012

Gurgaon, June 14 / TRIBUNE NEW DELHI

The police has arrested Amit and Geeta, who were living in a rented accommodation in Sector 57 here, on charges of torturing and confining their domestic help, Sonu, (name changed), a teenaged boy from West Bengal.The couple was produced in a local court, which released it on bail. Sonu was allegedly trafficked from his native village in West Bengal and employed as a domestic help through a Delhi-based placement agency, to which he was reportedly sold.The boy alleged that his employers used to lock him up inside the house, thrash him and deny him proper food. “They did not allow me to talk to my family members, nor did they pay me anything,” he maintained.

On Tuesday morning, Sonu managed to escape from his employer’s house and reached Vasant Vihar in New Delhi on foot. He was standing near a house there when a security guard spotted him. On being approached by the guard, the boy narrated his tale of woes.The guard called up the Delhi Police. The Vasant Vihar police got the child admitted to Safdarjung Hospital and informed the Gurgaon police.

The Gurgaon police took custody of the child after he was discharged from the hospital yesterday. After reaching Gurgaon, the Gurgaon police apprised Childline of the matter. A team from Childline counselled the child and arranged for his shelter at a children’s home. The Childline Shakti Vahini team is trying to get the boy reunited with his family in West Bengal.

Couple held for torturing domestic help

Couple held for torturing domestic help

Couple held for torturing domestic help - EXPRESS

Couple held for torturing domestic help -EXPRESS

Couple held for torturing domestic help -TIMES OF INDIA

Couple held for torturing domestic help -TIMES OF INDIA

Most rescued childeren are never rehabilitated

Most rescued childeren are never rehabilitated

Most rescued childeren are never rehabilitated

 PRERNA SODHI IN THE TIMES OF INDIA

NEW DELHI: The teenage help who was rescued from a Dwarka apartment in March is now enrolled in a school in Jharkhand. She has received her wage arrears, besides support from the state. But hers is an exceptional story of rehabilitation. Experts say most trafficked children, even when rescued, lead bleak lives.

Take the case of two girls — aged 12 and 13 — who were brought to Delhi a year ago and sexually assaulted at a placement agency. After their rescue, they were sent to a shelter home in West Bengal, and have not received any significant help.

Experts say care and aid are lavished on victims only after their cases grab media attention. Generally, though, rescued children get trapped in procedural hurdles. The luckier ones are ‘reunited’ with their families but not rehabilitated and, occasionally, children even slip back into the hands of traffickers.

Rishikant, an activist from NGO Shakti Vahini, said, “We get many complaints and some of the offences are grave. The state machinery moves when a case gets highlighted. In most cases, the child welfare committees (CWCs) merely dump the children back home without follow-up,” he said. The chairperson of the Lajpat Nagar CWC said, “Reuniting does not mean rehabilitation.” Shakti Vahini claims that of the 200 children it rescued last year, none has been properly rehabilitated.

In most cases, delays occur due to poor inter-state coordination. “The authorities here are not so concerned as 90% of the cases are from other states. Their attitude is that the other state has to take care of them,” said CWC chairperson Raaj Mangal Prasad. It is also observed that the CWCs of the other states are not so zealous in their work.

Rishi Kant, another Shakti Vahini member, said this hampers follow-up action. “The CWC might pass orders in the city and, to an extent, also recover children’s due wages, but it becomes difficult to follow up on a case on a day-to-day basis.” He suggests that the labour department should act as an intermediary between source states and cities from where children are rescued.

The director for policy and research at Child Rights and You (CRY), Vijaylakshmi Arora, said lack of manpower is another important hurdle in rehabilitation. “If you go to the district level or the CWCs, you don’t find much manpower. It is usually one man taking care of 50 cases. That ratio has to be improved.”

Arora said a system needs to be in place to track each and every child’s case separately “as each child’s case is different and the factors for trafficking are different. This will also keep tabs on children who have been re-trafficked; at present there is no system to monitor that.”

While lack of manpower and poor interstate coordination hinder the process of rehabilitation, Prasad said transferring the monitoring of child labour to the department of women and child development will help. “The Child Labour Act that falls under the labour department does not look into the rehabilitation of a child; this is done by the Juvenile Justice Act that is the responsibility of the department of women and child development,” he said, adding, “Shifting the child labour issue to them would speed up the process”.

PRERNA SODHI IN THE TIMES OF INDIA

Girl rescued from brothel returns from Bengal to depose before court

Posted in ANTI TRAFFICKING, CHILD RIGHTS, FIGHT SLAVERY, JUVENILE JUSTICE, SEX ABUSE by NNLRJ INDIA on May 10, 2012
Girl rescued from brothel returns from Bengal to depose before court

Girl rescued from brothel returns from Bengal to depose before court

DEVESH PANDEY IN THE HINDU

Almost two years after being rescued from a red-light area of the Capital, where she was sold to a brothel owner by human traffickers, a minor girl has travelled all the way back from West Bengal to seek justice for the physical and mental torture she was subjected to. Unlike a large number of human trafficking victims, who after being rescued go missing, the girl has come back to depose before a city court as a witness, hoping to see the culprits behind bars.

Vishakha (name changed) also plans to move a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court seeking directions for making mandatory the examination of all the victims like her through video-conferencing, so that they are not made to come in person from far off places to testify in court. “The victim will also approach the apex court for compensation to all victims of sex trafficking. As of now, there is no detailed guideline for compensation in such cases,” said her lawyer Ravi Kant.

The girl who was kidnapped from South 24 Parganas is still living under the threat of being targeted by her kidnappers. “A few days ago, they pelted stones at my house late at night to scare us. My father then lodged a complaint with the local police seeking action against them. They have been regularly issuing threats to me and my family. We are constantly living in terror, because of which I seldom venture out and am unable to even resume my studies. In fact, we have put a photograph of the lady police inspector, who had rescued me, in our house to ward off the traffickers,” said Vishakha.

It was in July 2010 that Vishakha was kidnapped by two acquaintances of one of her friends. “I went out along with my friend to a fair, where two young men joined us. We then went to her residence, where I was kept in confinement and the next day I was forced to board a Delhi-bound train at the Howrah railway station. They took me to the red-light area and handed me over to a woman, who tortured me physically when I refused to comply with her demands,” she alleged. The girl was then raped several times.

Vishakha’s plight only came to light after she narrated her woes to a client requesting him to contact her family. “He informed my parents regarding my whereabouts, following which they contacted the Kamla Market police station,” said the victim. Back home, her parents had already got an abduction case registered.

“The area Station House Officer immediately formed a team and rescued the girl. The brothel owner and another female accused were subsequently arrested. While both the accused are now out on bail, the male accused still remains at large,” said a representative of non-government organisation Shakti Vahini, which was also involved in the operation.

Recounting the harrowing experience, the girl said soon after being rescued from “hell”, she landed up at a shelter home where she was ill-treated by the staff. “A woman officer would scold me often without reason. Apparently they did not have enough plates, because of which three or four of us had to eat in the same plate. We were made to cook food ourselves; the rice provided to us was all rotten and there was not enough water for the inmates,” she alleged.

“In most cases, after a brief stay at shelter homes, the victims are sent back to their family without any State support and they are left on their own to suffer. Most States have no rehabilitation and compensation scheme in place and many victims, a large number of them minors, who have suffered grave fundamental rights violations are left on their own,” said Mr. Kant.

Incidentally, in reply to a question raised by Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwaha, the Union Home Ministry on Wednesday informed that seven girls had been rescued from the red-light area of G.B. Road and eight persons arrested in 2010, 26 victims rescued and 16 arrested in 2011 and 15 girls rescued and four accused arrested so far this year.

Plans to move a PIL for making the examination of all the victims like her through video conferencing mandatory

DEVESH PANDEY IN THE HINDU

3 Jharkhand, Bengal girls rescued

3 Jharkhand, Bengal girls rescued

3 Jharkhand, Bengal girls rescued

DWIPAYAN GHOSH IN THE TIMES OF INDIA – MAY 5 , 2012

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police, under fire from the Child Welfare Committee for failing to trace trafficked girls, has rescued three girls from different parts of the capital. The girls from Jharkhand and West Bengal were brought to the city after being drugged and locked up inside toilets of express trains. Once in the capital, they were either employed as domestic help or sold off to brothels.

On May 2, a 15-year-old girl from Simdega in Jharkhand was rescued from the house of one Virender Singh in Pitampura by a joint team of Maurya Enclave Police and Shakti Vahini, an NGO. The girl was allegedly brought to Delhi by one Taleshwar from her village and was employed in Singh’s house as a domestic help allegedly by one Ajit Pyari of a placement agency. But she had not been able to contact Pyari for the past two months.

Two other trafficking victims have been rescued from the GB Road area by a joint team of West Bengal Police and Delhi Police. One Jahangir has also been arrested from Manikchar village in Bengal’s Joynagar and sent to judicial custody. One of the girls, from South 24 Parganas of West Bengal, was lured by one Bappa Haldar with the promise of a better job. She was earning Rs 1,000 a month as a help. The trafficker took her to Howrah station but they boarded a train to Delhi. “I asked him where we were going. He said the owner of the hotel where I was supposed to work lived nearby. When I got suspicious, he threatened me, saying he would push me off the train,” the girl said.

After reaching Delhi, she was kept in a house at Kotla Mubarakpur in south Delhi. There she met another girl from Bengal. After three days, both girls were taken to GB Road. Following a tip-off, a team of Delhi Police and Shakti Vahini, raided the brothel and rescued them on March 31.

3 Jharkhand, Bengal girls rescued

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