Arunachal Police officer is one of 21 people detained in an interstate sex racket; another young girl is rescued
May 16, Itanagar Six more offenders, including a state police officer and three pimps, have been nabbed as the interstate prostitution racket haunts Arunachal Pradesh. Additionally, authorities claimed on Wednesday that another young girl has been freed from the traffickers’ grasp.
According to the police, this has resulted in the rescue of five juveniles and the arrest of 21 suspects in relation to the interstate prostitution network that involves human traffickers from the state and neighboring Assam.
Six more people were detained on Tuesday, according to a police official, after the initial 15 prisoners’ interrogation. These individuals included Deputy Superintendent of Police Bulang Marik, who is assigned to the first battalion of the Arunachal Armed Police, a police constable, three pimps, and one other person.
The fifteen-year-old fifth minor girl was rescued from a lodge on Zoo Road in Chimpu.
A couple who control the City Hotel on Zoo Road in Itanagar, Dulal Basumatary, 52, and Dipali Basumatary, 44, were identified by the police as part of an ongoing investigation, together with the hotel’s manager, Deepak Parajuli, 24, for pushing young girls into the flesh trade.
The Basumatary people live in Udalguri, whereas Parajuli is from Narayanpur in Assam.
On May 1, police broke up an interstate prostitution and human trafficking ring, rescued four juveniles, and detained fifteen people—six of them were government employees—in relation to the investigation.
Police said that two sisters who reportedly operated a brothel in Itanagar trafficked the young girls, who were between the ages of ten and fifteen, from Dhemaji in neighboring Assam into Arunachal Pradesh.
The females who had been saved informed the authorities that Pushpanjali and Purnima Mili, the sisters, had taken them from Dhemaji to Itanagar. Two other young girls who had been taken from Dhemaji were later freed from Pushpanjali Mili’s grasp.
The sisters coerced the daughters and two other women into becoming prostitutes. Two hotels and a beauty salon connected to the crime were also discovered by the authorities.
Kenjum Pakam, the chairperson of the Arunachal Pradesh Women Commission, asked the state government to take tough measures against those engaged in the child trafficking and sexual exploitation trade.
In a statement, the Commission expressed its extreme shock and agony at the horrible act of underage girls from the neighboring state being trafficked for sex. It was also said that it is deplorable to find that women and educated individuals are implicated in the case.
In order to ensure that no immoral acts occur, it asked the police to maintain vigilance at hotels, parlors, and any other questionable locations in and around the Itanagar Capital Region.
In the Lower Subansiri area, the Apatani Women Association Ziro (AWAZ) has fiercely denounced the scam, and the Arunachal Pradesh Women’s Welfare Society (APWWS) has called for the hotels and beauty salons implicated in the case to have their licenses revoked.
It said in a petition to Deputy Commissioner Shweta Nagarkoti Mehta of the Itanagar Capital Region that, given the seriousness of the problem, prompt and decisive action is required to address the underlying causes and stop the exploitation of vulnerable girls from low-income households.
“The quick action would serve as a deterrent and indicate the zero-tolerance policy of the state government towards such reprehensible practices,” said APWWS President Kani Nada Maling. The non-governmental organization said that all visitors must provide genuine identification cards as part of the strict protocols, and a daily guest list has to be sent in to the police and local government for careful examination and validation.
