Two 17-year-old girls from Mizoram were rescued in a trafficking attempt after a 61-year-old man from Ahmedabad was intercepted at the Panitanki border in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal while taking one of the girls to Nepal for work at a casino. The intervention also led to the rescue of a second minor girl from the man’s residence in Siliguri later that night.
Police registered a case at Kharibari police station under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (ITPA) and the Information Technology Act.
The first girl was intercepted along with the man at the Indo-Nepal border on the evening of October 11 by Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) in coordination with Kosi Lok Manch, a partner organisation of Just Rights for Children (JRC), India’s largest NGO network working for child protection. During the initial interaction, the 17-year-old said that both her parents had passed away and that she was accompanying the man to Nepal, where she had been told she would work at a casino. During further questioning, she said she knew him because he had been a long-time friend of her parents. However, the man gave a different account of how he knew the girl.
During questioning, he claimed to operate multiple spa centres in Mumbai and Pune. He said that a woman working at one of his establishments in Mumbai had introduced him to the minor, who was looking for a job. According to information gathered during the intervention, the girl and the man had been staying together for around a month, and he was taking her to Nepal for the proposed casino job. A check of the man’s mobile phone revealed explicit photographs, videos and Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) involving minor girls, including material linked to the rescued girl. Further questioning also led to information about another girl from Mizoram who was staying at the man’s residence in Siliguri.
Acting on this information, the team approached the Superintendent of Police concerned and reported the matter to Bhakti Nagar Police Station. A complaint was submitted, following which the team reached the residence and rescued the second girl at around 11 pm on the same night. The second girl, also 17 years old, had been brought to work but was kept at the residence as a domestic helper. Her mobile phone also contained explicit photographs, videos, and Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM) involving minors, including material involving the man with under-age girls. Following the second rescue, the team returned to the Panitanki border, where the man was apprehended with the assistance of the authorities. The SSB subsequently handed over the relevant documents, and a complaint was submitted to the police for further action. The girls were produced before the Child Welfare Committee after completion of the necessary police formalities.
“Recent interventions along the Indo-Nepal border have revealed a worrying pattern in which young girls are being trafficked under the guise of employment or dance performances. The lack of clear information about their destination and proposed work makes such cases particularly concerning. Timely intervention by the SSB is critical in such situations to ensure that vulnerable girls do not fall into the hands of trafficking networks,” said Rishi Kant, National Secretary, Just Rights for Children.
—Jitendra Parmar
