Six persons, including the father of the minor girl who allegedly forced her into the flesh trade, were arrested.
The Vadodara Prevention of Crime Branch (PCB) on Friday raided a residential apartment in the city allegedly being used to run a brothel and rescued seven, including six women and a 12-year-old girl. Six persons, including the father of the minor girl who allegedly forced her into the flesh trade, were arrested.
Others arrested are a woman who operates the brothel, another woman who first took the minor girl to the place and three customers present in the flat during the raid that was held using a dummy customer, police said.
The Father of the minor girl, originally from Bhavnagar and settled in Surat, has been forcing her into flesh trade for over eight months, police said, adding she had been in the Vadodara brothel for two days.
A PCB inspector told The Indian Express, “We traced the father and detained him. We have also detained a woman who helped the minor’s father send her to this brothel. Both have been handed over to the police station where a case has been booked.”
Police have also begun a probe to trace the men who may have raped the minor before she was rescued. “We have added unknown wanted as accused in the case. They will all be booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act as we get details. We have already added charges of rape,” the inspector added. Police said the woman arrested for running the brothel claimed that she was the owner of the flat.
Of the six other women rescued — all in their 20s, four are from Mumbai. The PCB has booked all accused under relevant sections of The Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1956 as well as sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 6 of the POCSO Act in the case of the minor girl.
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