Rescue & Actions by Snehalays

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Childline- Snehalaya Unravels a Network of Child traffickers

Childline- Snehalaya Unravels a Network of Child traffickers-

The kingpin and seventeen others arrested in the case of commercial sexual exploitation of the children
Ahmednagar,
Date: 26/3/06

Snehalaya's CHILDLINE and Muktiwahini unraveled a nexus of organized commercial sexual exploitation of the children on 23rd, February, 2006.The key trafficker Mrs. Sheela Bargal allies Sonu allies Payal and seventeen others have been arrested in the case and more than 28 persons including pimps, brothel keepers, hotel owners are absconding. Police along with our volunteers has sent the troops to three neighboring districts for the further investigation.

It was last month that parents of two minor girls missing since Dec 2005 months registered complaint at CHILDLINE. All the police stations were informed and provided with photographs of the minor girls. One of the informers conveyed Childline that these girls were seen at Sheela Bargal's house. In a swift operation Childline team members along with the parents of the missing girls raided Sheela's house and rescued two minor girls and produced them along with the trafficker Sheela before Mr. Sunil Ramanand, the district Police Chief.

Two minor girls exposed the name of thirty high profiled people. Many of them are well known political leaders or the sons of political bigwigs. Police has already arrested nine of them as an immediate action on 24th, Feb.

The name of some of the arrested criminals and also known personalities are as follows :
1. Balkishan Pemraj Goyal (36), owner of the famous 3Goel foot wear company.
2. Hardik Lakhmichand Jaggad (25), owner of Mahendra sweet home and Mahendra Hotel
3. Satish Bansi Pathare (26), owner of the Chinese fast food centre on Station Rd. near Ahmedangar College.
4. Akash Subhash Rathi ( 23), employee of HDFC bank,
5. Tukaram Genu Misal (40), Civil Engineer, Govt. servant, working in Ahmedangar Municipal Corporation
6. Namdev Maruti Kusalkar ( 26)Manager of Hotel Sushmita,
7. Raghwendra Nagappa Pujari ( 36), Dentist
8. Amit Kailas Madan ( 26) owner of Panjab Watch Co.
9. Sheela Dilip Bargal (37) a trafficker and the brothel keeper
10. Ramesh Barkase, the trafficker
11. Bhagyoday Patil,(38) a pimp from Pune who is also the electrical contractor
12. Payal Shinde,(24) a trafficker from Nashik who is also have a business of tours and travels.
13. Dnyandev Gondakar,(46) owner of Hotel Sai Village, Shirdi, the office barer of Congress ( I) and brother of one of the senior Congress leader and a trustee of Saibaba Sansthan Shirdi. The son in law of the senior Congress (I) M.L.A.
14. Ajay Kate, ( 32) Manager of the Hotel Raja Palace, Shahada, Dist. Dhule
15. Harjitsing Rajpal (42) the owner of the Hotel Raja Palace and a political bigwig.
16. Ramrao Mohiniraj Dengale ( 56) the owner of Hotel Tarang, Loni, Sangamner Rd. Dist. Ahmedangar.
17. Kamal Dilip Warade (43) a trafficker and a brothel keeper

The other suspected criminals absconding include,
1. Chetan Popatlal Bhalgat ( District President of the youth Nationalist Congress Party )
2. Ravi Thorat – the partner of the S.R. Thorat Milk Dairy, Sangamner, Dist. Ahmedangar
3. Raju Thorat - the partner of the S.R. Thorat Milk Dairy, Sangamner, Dist. Ahmedangar. Both the Thorat brothers are the sons of the senior NCP leader Mr. Sambhaji Thorat.
4. Ashok Kasar,(42) suspended police officer, close associate of local Shivsena M.L.A. Mr. Anil Rathod
5. Vilas Karale, (44) a property dealer and one of the main trafficker
6. Atmaram R. Dengale (26) owner of Hotel Tarang.
7. Ramakant R. Dengale (26) owner of Hotel Tarang.
Ramu Jagannath Salve ( 38) originally from Jalana Dist. and one of the main trafficker and other criminals are ran away from the district. they are trying for the anticipatory bail from the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court.

Criminals produced before the court :
The state Govt. has handed over the investigation to C.I.D. as per the demand of the NGOs. Mrs. Shobha Ohotkar, the I.P.S. and the superintendent of C.I.D. is now heading the investigation.

The state wide investigation:
The organized commercial sexual exploitation of the children has been detected in Ahmednagar city but as per the investigations it shows that it is spread all over Maharashtra. The bigwigs from Dhule, Nandurbar, Pune, Nasik and many more districts are involved in the scandal. Our team has gone to Dhule, Nandurbar, Jalana, Nasik and other districts along with the Police officers to dig out the roots of anti-social elements

Various likeminded organisations along with Snehalaya, Childline, NACSET ( Network against commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking) have raised several demands to the district Police chief District Magistrate, the Home Minister, the Chair Persons of State and National Commission for women are as follows :

1. Demand of Special Task Force : to appoint the I.P.S. level lady officer for the investigation of the case. The representatives of the NGOs must be included in the Task Force

2. Apply the MCOCA : Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act- MCOCA must be apply on these suspected criminals.
3. Apply the Atrocities Act : One of the girl is from Dalit community hence apply the SC/ST Atrocity Prevention Act against the criminals.

4. Provide the Police Protection to the girls and their family members

5. Under the clause 164 of the C.R.P.C. the statementS of victims, witnesses, and complainant should be recorded in the court as soon as possible. It will be beneficial for the conviction.

6. The Political leaders who are forcing the Police force for not taking the action against the criminals should also treat as criminals.

7. Arrest the pimps and not the customers only :

Silent March
Under the leadership of Padmbhushan Anna Hajare, more than two thousand citizens silently marched as a protest to district Collector’s Office. BJP MLA Kanta Nalawade, Shivsena MLA Nilam Gore, Mrs. Adv. Usha Darade, the state president of the women front of the NCP and many others also participated in the march showing the solidarity to the issue.

Victim Support and protection :
Now we Snehalaya is working towards victim support and victim protection activities.

In another incident we have again rescued a fifteen year old minor girl of Ahmednagar at nagpur. Amrawati Childline and the CWC of Nagpur helped us in this mission.
The trafficker Yakub Pathan(52) and Rekha Pathan (46), Sanjay Santre, (33) a builder from Aurangabad, Naresh Rahula Kaur (32) proprietary of the Hotel Jitu Da Dhaba, Ashok Sohanda (47) a cable operator and two others were arrested .

The Impact :
After these two major crackdowns, all the hotels and lodges of the Ahmednagar District are refraining from getting into illicit flesh trade. All the women below 20 years of the age have been sent to the NGOs or their respective families by the brothel keepers because of threat. Many cases of harassment and black mailing of the girls have been detected on receipt of the several complains from the girls. Muktwahini and Police are jointly handling these cases creating a sense of security amongst minors and women. The volunteers are now more experienced and confident in combating the trafficking, the organized gangs supported by political bigwigs The issue was discussed in the Maharashtra Legislative Council on 22nd, March, 2006. Snehalaya’s role was appreciated by the MLC and has sensitized the MLAs, the media and the bureaucracy at the state level.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Intervention in child Marriages -

Intervention in child Marriages

Childline intervened in a child marriage on 5/5/05. An anonymous caller informed Childline that a child marriage was being performed in Sanjaynagar slum at 1.30 pm.

The Co-coordinator and two team members rushed to the site. They tried to convince the parents of the bride Rupali and the groom Baban. The parents along with the Guests present for the ceremony became violent.

The rescue team immediately informed Kotwali Police Station. Police Sub Inspector Mr. Tidke and seven Constables rushed to the venue immediately. The police arrested 10 people including Bride Rupali Ankush Rathod ( age 14 yrs ), groom Baban Tulshiram Giri ( 27 ) , Mr. Ankush Rathod, Kamala Rathod, Tulshiram Giri, Radhabai Giri, Somnath Kamble and Pramod Sathe.

Police filed F.I.R. and took them in prison for a day, but the parents of the groom and the bride told the police that the marriage was not being performed rather it was mere engagement.

Police Inspector, Mr. Pingle informed them about the child marriage act and warned them of the consequences.

Sheetal saved from getting into prostitution
Date: 11-12-2004
Case Id:
Type of case: Rescue
Caller’s Name: Ganga (from Nishant group)
Name of the child/age/sex: Sheetal Roy (F Age between 16-19 yrs)
Address: Khandagale wada. Opp Amardham, Nalegaon Ahmednagar.
Fathers Name:
Team member: Pravin Mutyal
Intervention: On 11-12-2004

Ahmednagar Childline received a call from Ganga, a volunteer of Nishant group. Ganga said that she saw one minor girl moving around in a suspicious way with a known prostitute Seema at M.G. Road Ahmednagar. Immediately the rescue team members, Pravin Mutyal and Sachin Kale went to the MG ROAD and tried to locate the girl but they couldn’t find them at M.G road. Later during the day, Rescue Team members went to Seema’s house near Amardham at 4:30 pm but found her house locked. Meanwhile the team members contacted Dr. Girish Kulkarni to inform him about the case. Dr. Kulkarni along with the team members immediately rushed to the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP)office to file a complaint. The Superintendent Bhal chandra Tamboli gave instructions to Kotwali police station for immediate action. A search operation was undertaken and at around 6:30 pm Dr. Kulkarni along with Advocate. Asava and police constables revisited Seema’s house. When the search team reached near Seema’s house they saw Seema sitting in Auto rikshaw with the girl. Team members alongwith Dr. Kulkarni and Adv Asawa, tried to stop the auto richshaw but the driver didn’t stop. Adv. Asava and the police constable followed the auto rikshaw on their motorbicycle and forcefully stopped them at Swastik Chowk. Both Seema and the minor girl Sheetal were brought to the police station.

As always the ordeal starts in the police station. There were delays in further formalities and enquiry. There was no lady constable in the police station. Until 11:30 pm Sheetal’s medical checkup to verify her age was not done. Sheetal was kept in the same lockup room with Seema for the night. Next morning Childline team members went to the police station again. AS per the medical check up Sheetal’s age was found to be between 16- 19 yrs. Sheetal was sent to Remand home (Bal Sudharna Kendra) Ahmednagar and the complaint was filed against Seema.

On 15-12-2004 Manjiri Tambe coordinator of Ahmednagar Childline went to meet Sheetal and has initiated her counseling.

Minors rescued from flesh trade by the Snehalaya’s Ahmednagar- Childline!

Minors rescued from flesh trade by the Snehalaya’s Ahmednagar- Childline!

Date: 4-12-2004
Case Id:
Type of case: Rescue/Rehabilitation
Caller’s Name: Unknown call from Ghodegaon Newasa Phata
Name of the child/age/sex: Arti Vikram Niware (f- Age- 14 yrs)
Address: Navin Kawsar, Paithan
Fathers Name: Vikram Nanasaheb Niware
Team member: Ambadas Chavhan

Intervention: On 4th Dec 2004 Child line received information on phone about a minor girl being in flesh trade at one of the roadside eateries (Dhaba). As soon as the Childline received the call, the rescue team rushed to the Kangoli phata and found the girl named Arti. To the surprise of the rescue team, Arti was the same girl who was repatriated earlier through Child line to her parents few months back when she was found soliciting customers at the ST stand. Childline team talked to Arti, counseled and convinced her again to leave that place. Arti has been brought to Snehalaya for counseling. At present she continues to live in Snehalaya.