NEW DELHI: Raheema (name changed) came to India on a tourist visa in April 2019 hoping to find work. Instead, the middlemen who brought her from Uzbekistan snatched her passport and belongings and confined her to a room in a south Delhi flat.
Without a passport, the 26-year-old had no option but to give in to the middlemen’s demand that she cater to the sexual needs of men who visited the flat.
Raheema reported being thrashed for refusing a customer or trying to flee. She and others like her were also regularly forced to take drugs and some of the girls developed a dependency. “We were not given any money. To make matters worse, none of us knew the local language,” said Raheema. She was among the seven girls who managed to flee from confinement and reach the Uzbekistan Embassy in Chanakyapuri. Though without any valid document of identity, she wasn’t able to enter the embassy premises.
Luckily for the women, they were rescued by NGO Empowering Humanity, following which Delhi Police registered a case of kidnapping, trafficking, criminal conspiracy, extortion plus other charges at Chanakyapuri police station on Monday. Five persons have been arrested as the cops try to unravel the international racket.
Barring one, all the victims have children back home. Most said they were married young, had kids and their husbands had deserted them.
One of them was brought to India at the age of 17 in October 2019, one is 30 years old and has a kid who has a hole in the heart, another is 22 years old and had come to the city in January this year.
Raheema too has a kid. After her husband left her, she jumped at the chance when offered a job in Delhi. She arrived in the city on a tourist visa but was later taken to a location whose name she was unable to reveal. “The door of my room was always locked,” she said. “We were not allowed outside. If we had to, we were always accompanied by the brokers. They gave us drugs and forced it on us when we refused them. Some customers also gave us drugs. There were days when 10 men used us for sex.”
Empowering Humanity helped the rescued women file a police case. The FIR, a copy of which is with TOI, states that the women were trafficked to India. “We were given tourist visas in Nepal and some of us came to India on medical visas at different times. The passports of those of us who came to Nepal on tourist visas were snatched from us and we were brought to New Delhi to work as prostitutes. For those of us who came to India directly on medical or other visas, our travel documents and passports were taken from us after our arrival,” says the FIR.
In July, the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of Delhi Police arrested around a dozen people, including women and foreign nationals, for in illegally bringing in Uzbek women to India. Police also rescued 11 women, who are currently in detention centres since they do not possess travel documents. An investigating official said the women claimed they were offered employment in India but on arrival were pushed into the flesh trade.
“We are procuring details from the Foreigners’ Registration Office to determine who came on valid visas and who were smuggled into the country,” said a police officer. “The case is still being investigated and more people are likely to be arrested. It’s a big chain of people who are involved in bringing the women from Uzbekistan to Delhi. We have also seized some documents during our raids and we are trying to search for many other women.”
Hemant Sharma, a social worker and volunteer at Empowering Humanity, said their freedom from the middlemen did not bring peace to the women because they were often booked under the Foreigners Act for not holding valid travel documents. “This is the issue. The victims themselves become the accused because they can’t produce identity and travel documents, which are taken from them by their smugglers.”
Without a passport, the 26-year-old had no option but to give in to the middlemen’s demand that she cater to the sexual needs of men who visited the flat.
Raheema reported being thrashed for refusing a customer or trying to flee. She and others like her were also regularly forced to take drugs and some of the girls developed a dependency. “We were not given any money. To make matters worse, none of us knew the local language,” said Raheema. She was among the seven girls who managed to flee from confinement and reach the Uzbekistan Embassy in Chanakyapuri. Though without any valid document of identity, she wasn’t able to enter the embassy premises.
Luckily for the women, they were rescued by NGO Empowering Humanity, following which Delhi Police registered a case of kidnapping, trafficking, criminal conspiracy, extortion plus other charges at Chanakyapuri police station on Monday. Five persons have been arrested as the cops try to unravel the international racket.
Barring one, all the victims have children back home. Most said they were married young, had kids and their husbands had deserted them.
One of them was brought to India at the age of 17 in October 2019, one is 30 years old and has a kid who has a hole in the heart, another is 22 years old and had come to the city in January this year.
Raheema too has a kid. After her husband left her, she jumped at the chance when offered a job in Delhi. She arrived in the city on a tourist visa but was later taken to a location whose name she was unable to reveal. “The door of my room was always locked,” she said. “We were not allowed outside. If we had to, we were always accompanied by the brokers. They gave us drugs and forced it on us when we refused them. Some customers also gave us drugs. There were days when 10 men used us for sex.”
Empowering Humanity helped the rescued women file a police case. The FIR, a copy of which is with TOI, states that the women were trafficked to India. “We were given tourist visas in Nepal and some of us came to India on medical visas at different times. The passports of those of us who came to Nepal on tourist visas were snatched from us and we were brought to New Delhi to work as prostitutes. For those of us who came to India directly on medical or other visas, our travel documents and passports were taken from us after our arrival,” says the FIR.
In July, the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of Delhi Police arrested around a dozen people, including women and foreign nationals, for in illegally bringing in Uzbek women to India. Police also rescued 11 women, who are currently in detention centres since they do not possess travel documents. An investigating official said the women claimed they were offered employment in India but on arrival were pushed into the flesh trade.
“We are procuring details from the Foreigners’ Registration Office to determine who came on valid visas and who were smuggled into the country,” said a police officer. “The case is still being investigated and more people are likely to be arrested. It’s a big chain of people who are involved in bringing the women from Uzbekistan to Delhi. We have also seized some documents during our raids and we are trying to search for many other women.”
Hemant Sharma, a social worker and volunteer at Empowering Humanity, said their freedom from the middlemen did not bring peace to the women because they were often booked under the Foreigners Act for not holding valid travel documents. “This is the issue. The victims themselves become the accused because they can’t produce identity and travel documents, which are taken from them by their smugglers.”