Police in western India said they have arrested two people for trying to sell a 13-year-old girl’s virginity.
According to police, one of those arrested in the sting operation was the girl’s mother.
Policemen said a team of six crime branch officials raided an apartment in Mumbra, on the outskirts of Thane, at about 8 p.m. 25 August and arrested the 32-year-old mother and a 29-year-old auto rickshaw driver.
The police was acting on a tip-off from the Indian Rescue Mission, a Mumbai-based non-profit founded in 2009 to rescue and rehabilitate trafficked children, sometimes through undercover operations.
An IRM worker said that he got into an auto rickshaw on Aug. 18 and asked the driver about dance bars where he could go and “have fun.” The auto driver told him about two bars in the area.
“I immediately knew that he was someone who would have more information for me and I took his contact number,” the 29-year-old social worker said
The next day, posing as an agent, he telephoned the auto driver demanding a virgin girl for a wealthy client, he said.
“A couple of days later, the driver called me to tell me that a 13 or 14 year old girl, he wasn’t sure [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][of her exact age,] was available for one lakh rupees (100,000 rupees, or $1,550),” he said.
The social worker said he went with the driver on Aug. 23 to an apartment in the six-story building where the young girl, her mother and two other unidentified women were present. The mother initially claimed to be the girl’s aunt, but has since admitted she is her mother, police said.
“I promised [the driver] that I would bring my client along on Sunday and on the day I took a token amount of 10,000 rupees so that the girl wasn’t sold off to anyone else,” the social worker said.
“They [police] raided the apartment and arrested the auto rickshaw driver and the woman who was negotiating the deal,” said the social worker.
[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
