22 October,2010 07:24 AM IST | | Kaumudi Gurjar
Imagine the plight of the 21 commercial sex workers (CSWs) ufffd nine of them minors ufffd rescued on Wednesday by the police when they, instead of being made to feel safe and secure after leaving their brothel, had to spend the night huddled up in a remand home along with the very traffickers responsible for forcing them into the flesh trade.
The police saw nothing wrong in keeping the suspected Bangladeshis illegally brought into the country at the same place as the accused;
at least a senior officer in charge of the Faraskhana police station did not, and he said so.
Senior Police Inspector Venkat Gangalwad, the man in charge of Faraskhana police station, brushed aside the issue using reasoning that defeated the very purpose of Monday's raid.
"The girls were staying with them (accused) for so many days, what is wrong if they stayed with them for
some more hours?" said Gangalwad.
Instead of the police lock-up, brothel owner Gauri Kancha Tamang, who has been arrested several times before and booked in at least four such cases, was sent to the rescue home along with the flesh trade victims.
"The rescued girls were giving contradictory statements so we could not register the case late at night and decided to send all the girls and the brothel managers to the Rescue Foundation shelter in Hadapsar," Gangalwad said.
Is he lying?
Asked how Tamang, a history-sheeter who was even arrested by the Crime Branch in 2008, could be sent to the same place as the rescued sex workers, Gangalwad said he had taken certain measures to keep her away from the victims.
"I told the Rescue Foundation authorities to keep the girls and traffickers separately," said Gangalwad.
But Rescue Foundation chief Triveni Acharya from Mumbai denied Gangalwad's contention.
"We were told that all the girls were victims. The home is not for the accused. The police should have kept them in their custody," said Acharya. "I have issued instructions to my superintendent in Pune not to accept any accused in the Rescue Foundation home."
Against the law
Advocate Rohit Takavane said what the police did was against the law. "It is against the law to allow victims and accused to be kept at one place," said Takavane. "In such cases, the accused gets a chance to influence his victims by warning them to not open their mouth against them."
Commissioner of Police Meeran Chadha Borwankar said she was looking into the matter. "Some social workers have brought this to my notice," said Borwankar. "I am looking into the matter."
Tamang was arrested for forcing minor Bangladeshi girls into prostitution by the Crime Branch in 2009 under the Prevention of Immmoral Trafficking Act. That case involved three Bangladeshi minors the police said had been forced into prostitution.
Police sources said Tamang was even externed from city limits, but the order was cancelled by state government.
