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Sex Trafficking in Kolkata, West Bengal (2016)

A sex trafficking case from 2016 in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. 1 source on file.

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What happened

Kolkata police, working with IJM, rescued three young women, aged about 18 to 20, who had been trafficked from Bangladesh and forced into prostitution in a two-story brothel in one of the city's red-light districts.

Response and intervention

Investigation: Kolkata Police's anti-trafficking unit with International Justice Mission Kolkata. Outcome: Two suspects were arrested: the madam running the brothel and a trafficker.

Sex Trafficking2007

Kolkata, India, 2007

India IN

the perpetrators were arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department on 2/16/07. On May 3, 2010 the two men and one woman traffickers were sentenced to 10 years in prison for t he trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of three minor girls. The girls who were 12, 14 and 16 years of age had been lured by the traffickers from their rural villages in Nepal and W. Bengal with the prospect of legitimate work in Kilkata. Instead they were sold to the traffickers who forced them into having sex with as many as 12 customers per day.

Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
CSEC2011

Kolkata, India, 2011

India IN

Investigators with International Justice Mission, a Washington-based aid group that fights human trafficking, had spotted “Chutki” (nickname for “little girl”), a young teen, while undercover looking for prostituted children. New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof accompanied the I.J.M. investigator (who wanted to remain anonymous for his own safety) into the alleys of the Sonagachi red-light district one evening, slipped into the brothel, and climbed to the third floor. And there were Chutki and three other girls in a room, with a pimp hovering over them. The girls were offered to the investigators who demurred but said they’d return.

2 sourcesArchive 2008–2016
Domestic Servitude2011

Assam, West Bengal, India, 2011

India IN

Ismail Ahmed Age: 32 from Nowagaon in Assam Babita Age: 25 Both of these individuals run an illegal placement agency, Ashok Chand. Ahmed was arrested on May 5 from Shakarpur, while he was allegedly trying to sell a minor girl for Rs 1.5 lakh to a decoy customer. During questioning, Ahmed told police that brokers and agents operating in Assam, West Bengal and areas near the Indo-Bangladesh border would send minors to Delhi with promises of a better life. Once here, they would be handed over to an illegal placement agency run by Babita. Seven minor girls and boys, employed as domestic helps, were rescued during the operation — conducted with the help of NGO Shakti Vahini. The traffickers followed two different modules. "Children between the ages of 11-15 were placed in domestic households. Those above 15, especially girls, were sold off in Delhi and Haryana. Girls brought from Bangladesh were promised jobs in modeling agencies. Extreme poverty often led their parents to accept the agents' propositions,'' said an officer. It was revealed that the children had no knowledge either any salary was being paid to them or being sent to their parents for the household work they performed. Most of them had no contact with their parents after coming to Delhi. "The agent was paid a sum of Rs 20,000 to 25,000 by Babita for each minor child. She in turn charged Rs 20,000 to 35,000 from the employer where the children were employed as an initial payment. Then an agreement of 11 months was drawn up with the employer for payment of monthly salary. The monthly salary that was paid was also misappropriated by Babita and it never reached their parents," Mr Chand said.

3 sourcesArchive 2008–2016