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Journalism of Courage
Over a decade ago, a man abducted two minor sisters from a distinguished family in Bangladesh and sold them to sex racketeers in India. The girls, then aged 17 and 15, were traced in Pune and rescued in a “24-hour, non-stop operation” by a team of the Pune city police headed by police inspector Bhanupratap Barge of the crime branch. Indian agencies later repatriated the girls to Bangladesh.
The police said a man, identified as Rocky, had allegedly developed an affair with one of the girls. Giving her some false promises, Rocky allegedly abducted her and her sister from Dhaka on May 14, 2013. He entered India with the two girls illegally crossing the international water border.
An important functionary from the Bangladesh government’s law enforcement machinery contacted the Indian authorities with a request to trace the girls, suspecting they were being trafficked to Mumbai. The girls were not found in searches carried out in Mumbai.
Meanwhile, a sex worker who came across one of these girls in Pune decided to help her. She reportedly called her family members based in Kolkata, and they informed the uncle of the two sisters in Bangladesh.
Girl found in empty water tank at brothel
Inspector Barge and his team alerted their informers and started raids at brothels in the Budhwar Peth and Shukrawar Peth areas. Barge said his informer ‘Mumtaz’ provided a crucial lead by sharing information about an autorickshaw driver who had dropped the girls at a brothel a few days previously.
“We traced the autorickshaw driver. Following leads obtained during his interrogation, we rescued one minor girl who was kept in an empty water tank on the terrace of a brothel building in Budhwar Peth. We arrested sex racketeers Sunil Vichare and Taniya Vyapari during the action,” said Barge.
The police said Rocky was a notorious sex trade agent and had sold the two sisters to pimps Mukti and Taniya in Pune for Rs 50,000 and Rs 70,000. Taniya allegedly sold one girl to a brothel in Budhwar Peth and her sister to one Vilas Kasle, who was in the construction business and also active in a sex trade racket.
Distracting dogs with mutton to rescue second girl
The police arrested Kasle, and based on information received from him, they reached a bungalow in the Undri area. “We found a few dogs guarding the bungalow. If the dogs had barked, it might have caused hurdles for us. So we threw pieces of mutton carefully to distract the dogs. As the dogs got busy eating mutton, we entered the house without alerting those inside, including bouncers, and rescued the second girl,” said Barge.
“The sisters broke into tears when they came face to face for the first time after being rescued. It was an important operation that went on for 24 hours, involving the governments of two countries,” added Barge, who retired as an assistant commissioner of police and is a recipient of the President’s Police Medal for Meritorious Service.
