Woman trafficked from Bihar, raped, forced into prostitution

NEW DELHI: A 24-year-old woman who was trafficked from Bihar by an agent of a fake placement agency and later sold into prostitution, escaped from her confines last week and sought help from the Delhi Police.

Police said after her husband left her and with no source of income to raise her two children, the woman came to Delhi with the agent in the hopes of getting a job and later brought her children along as well.

But the agent allegedly sold her to another person who sexually exploited her and then forced her into prostitution, senior police officers said.

Police said last week, the woman fled the place where was being confined and approached the Delhi Police, seeking their help. A team of the Netaji Subhash Place police station later carried out an operation and arrested three men, including the agent Sanjay Shah,34, the police said.

“The other two arrested men were identified as Kishan Rai alias Krishnu,25, and Aarif alias Rahul,40, both from Delhi. Shah belongs to Bihar and he had allegedly lured the woman to

Delhi in 2017, following his frequent visits to her native village to offer the women there employment in Delhi,” a senior police officer associated with the case said, requesting anonymity.

DCP (northwest) Vijayanta Arya said on August 23, the woman called the police and in her complaint accused one Kishan Rai of “raping her and forcing her into prostitution.”

The woman told the police that Kishan is the person to whom she was sold by Shah. She has alleged that Kishan raped her after promising to marry her. When she learnt that he was already married and confronted him, Kishan “forced her into prostitution”. Aarif is Kishan’s associate and he too had raped her, the woman alleged.

The woman’s was counselled and her statement was recorded. She told the police that her husband left her and their two children and married another woman in their home town in Bihar. In 2017, she met Shah who promised her a job and brought her to Delhi. He got her a job as a domestic help in two houses in north and outer Delhi, the officer said. HTC