ES Reporter 

ITANAGAR, July 14: Capital Police rescued two minor girls from Arunachal Pradesh and arrested five person while dismantling  an interstate child trafficking and prostitution racket in Delhi, targeting girls from the North East Region.
In his briefing, Superintendent of Police, ICR, Rohit Rajbir Singh said police swung into action on June 10 last, after the Itanagar Women Police Station received information regarding two missing minor girls. Subsequently, with the help of family members, the two minor victims Miss A and Miss B were recovered from the house of one Mimi Bagang located at Chimpu, Itanagar. Consequently, Women Police Station Itanagar registered a case vide ITA WPS Case No-24/24 u/s 363 IPC and investigated the case.
During the investigation, the minor girls narrated harrowing details about what had happened to them. Miss A, (15), a native of East Kameng District, who was working as a maid was subjected to constant physical and verbal abuse while working for different households. While living with one such family belonging to East Kameng, the victim was subjected to penetrative sexual assault by a male member of the family.
Seeking a fresh start to her life, the victim contacted a woman whom she had met during Covid lockdown. Api Brey @Roshni Brey @ Begum Brey, a divorcee who was living in Delhi had delved into flesh trade, sensed an opportunity and promised to help the girl.  Api contacted her friend Mimi Bagang to arrange tickets for Miss A to come to Delhi, in September 2023.
At Delhi, the victim began as a house help but was slowly forced into prostitution at the behest of one Jeet Khatri with whom Api was working as an escort/agent citing huge demand for underage north-eastern girls among his customers. 
The victim later managed to persuade the woman to send her back to Itanagar in February this year. However the girl experienced the same fate while working as domestic help. With no options left. she again contacted Api Brey and requested to get her back to Delhi with a request that she may not be forced into prostitution. Api agreed to do it only on the condition that she bring more friends like her to Delhi and told her that she would get them all to work as waiters.  Miss A contacted Miss B another girl from the Puroik community who was her neighbor and was facing the same difficulties in her life.  
Miss B, I6, a native of Kurung Kumey, belonged to the Puroik community. Given the poor financial background of her own family and the fact that her family is from marginalized section of society, she has been living with another family belonging from Kurung Kumey and residing at Senki View, Itanagar ever since she was an infant. 
Police further informed that, after investigating a special police team was formed consisting of police personnel from the District Detection Team and Women Police Station, Itanagar, to undertake a detailed in-depth investigative exercise.
The police team swung into action and arrested the following persons across Arunachal Pradesh-Delhi over the past 15 days. The first arrest in the case was that of the Pungming Bagang © Mimi Bagang, aged 24 years, a native of East Kameng and presently residing at Chimpu, Itanagar who trafficked Miss A to Delhi in the year 2023 and was facilitating the trafficking of Miss A and Miss B in June to New Delhi. She is a friend of Api Brey and she was fully aware of the fact that the girls would be subjected to sexual assault once they reached Delhi. She is presently in judicial custody and has admitted to her involvement in the case.
 The second arrest in the case happened on July 9 last, from Sangam Vihar, New Delhi, and was that of one Api Brey ©Roshni Brey ©Begum Brey ©Roshani Devi, aged 31 years, a native of East Kameng District and presently residing at Sangam Vihar, New Delhi for the past 9 years. 
She works for one Jeet Khatri (a pimp and brothel owner) both as an escort as well as an agent, finding him girls from the northeast who are in Delhi and require money and was instrumental in the instant case of trafficking girls from Arunachal Pradesh to force them into prostitution.
The third arrest in the instant case was on 10 July from Munirka, New Delhi, and was that of one Jeet Bahadur Khatri © Jeet Sonar. A 59-year-old man originally hailing from Nepal. He is a driver in a private firm and he is the kingpin of this prostitution racket. Operating both as a pimp and running a brothel from his rented house at Munirka Village in the South West District of Delhi, Jeet would entrap northeastern girls through agents like Api looking for jobs in the nation's capital and slowly lure them into the flesh trade. He operates a sophisticated network where his contact information is accessible online through services like Locanto, a free classified ads website, or via personal referrals.  
The fourth arrest of the case was also on 10 July last from Shahpur Jaat, New Delhi, and was of one Sushil Kumar @ Ballu @ Abhay Jaat, a 42-year-old man who is a permanent resident of Shahpur Jaat in New Delhi. He is a contractor by profession. He is known to Jeet Khatri and is his regular customer. After learning about the arrival of a young girl from the North-East through Jeet he took the victim girl Miss A to his friend's farmhouse nearby and sexually assaulted her multiple times.
The fifth arrest of this case was on 11 July last from Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi, and is that of Advocate Raghunath Menon, a 5 I-year-old man originally hailing from Kerala but who has been living in Delhi NCR for the past 30 years. He has been a practicing advocate at Delhi High Court for the past 25 years with his chamber at Lajpat Nagar and is one of the two identified accused persons who had sexually assaulted the victim girl Miss A multiple times at his chamber despite being fully aware that the girl is a minor. 
SP Capital, while commending the herculean efforts of the team, underscores that identifying perpetrators is and remains a challenging task. The offense occurred months ago and thousands of kilometers away, adding to the complexity of the investigation. However, a full-scale investigation is underway, and we will ensure that no perpetrator involved in harming our girl child is spared, regardless of their location.
He emphasizes the urgent need for heightened societal awareness and proactive outreach, asserting that in a closely-knit society like ours, neglect and abuse of children cannot and will not go unnoticed. He called upon the community to unite in protecting our children, ensuring that no girl child ever faces such cruelty again. 

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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