AIZAWL: A Mizo girl, who was forced into flesh trade after being promised a job, has been rescued by Mizoram Police in Mumbai.The girl was promised a job with a handsome salary by a person whose identity is yet to be ascertained, police said. "She called her parents in Aizawl as soon as she escaped. They in turn notified CID officials of Mizoram Police," an officer said.
After getting the news, the officials rushed to Mumbai and took the girl in their custody on Monday. The person, who took the girl to Mumbai, is suspected to be involved in a flesh trade racket for quite some time. Efforts are on to arrest him.
Last year, two girls were brought to Goa from Mizoram with promises that they would work as beauticians. But when they reached there, they were asked to have sex with their customers and were beaten up when they refused to comply. They were rescued by a Mizo boy working in Goa who contacted a journalist in Aizawl. Later, police, in coordination with NGOs, brought them back.
Scarcity of jobs in the state is compelling many boys and girls to look for work outside. While doing so, they become easy target of flesh trade racketeers. This has forced the state government to set up an anti-human trafficking squad recently.
Cases of human trafficking have been on the rise in Mizoram of late. "t is suspected that several such incidents might have gone unreported. Many victims failed to report the crime while in many cases the victims and the perpetrators of the crime reached agreements and compromises," said Joseph Lalchhuana, SP, CID (Crime) recently.
Jimmy Laltlanmawia, programme coordinator of Aizawl-based Community Health Action Network (Chan), the salvation Army-sponsored NGO, said Chan began its campaign against human trafficking from 2005 when the awareness about crime was extremely low among people of Mizoram. The awareness level about the issue has now increased, he said.
In September last year, police had arrested a Mizo man, Vanlalruati, the main contact person of a Goa-based beauty parlour owner, who allegedly trafficked girls from Mizoram to Goa for sexual exploitation.
Vanlalruati alias Vli Ramhlun, had hired the three Mizo girls, including a minor, to work in the beauty parlour at Porvorim, where they were forced to do sex work.
In their complaint to Mizoram police, relatives of the trafficked girls revealed that Vanlalruati had hired the girls to work in the beauty parlour and they were brought to Goa by one Alex of Manipur.
~TNN
