Nine teenagers from Darjeeling and Kolkata Rescued from Bangalore

Rescued from brothel, ‘shunned’ by kin

FROM bangaloremirror.com

Nine teenagers from Darjeeling and Kolkata, who were lured by dreams of good jobs and handsome salaries, are stuck in the State Rescue Home

Nine girls have been oscillating between hope and extreme despair ever since they were rescued from an upscale brothel four months ago. 

It should have meant the beginning of better times, but their families have not come forward to claim them. And the wait seems endless.

The teenagers from Darjeeling and Kolkata were lured by dreams of good jobs and handsome salaries that Anju Singh alias Maria from Bengal held out. 

Instead, they found themselves hurled into a “hi-tech” prostitution racket that Anju has been running for almost five years along with four other accused -- Maska Roy, Devayan Roy, Krishna and Rakesh. 

Their dreams shattered, the youngsters found themselves literally jailed in the city.

On getting credible information about the racket, Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths raided Anju’s house in Viveknagar and arrested her along with the four others. They packed them off to Parappana Agrahara central jail and sent the girls to the State Rescue Home in the city.

The girls gave their home addresses to the police which the nodal officer sent to the authorities in Kolkata a few months ago. 

But no one has come forward to claim them as a daughter, a sister, or even a relative. They are helpless. They have no one in Bangalore to turn to or to bail them out.

“We are expecting a reply. Till date, no one has contacted us about these girls,” DCP (Crime) D M Krishnam Raju told Bangalore Mirror.

Rules say that parents have to prove their identity as well as that of their daughters to the city police before harbouring any thoughts of taking them back.

“These girls are in a difficult situation. They came here with dreams of a good job to help their families. But, they were thrown into another world.

Every day, they wait eagerly for someone to take them out of the rescue home. Their parents may have come to know about the truth and that may be why they are hesitating to come forward. 

We feel sorry for the girls. Anju Singh ran the racket for money and these girls have becomes capegoats,” a senior police officer said.

A few days back, one girl, who was pregnant, was sent back to Kolkata after her relative came to the city police. But that’s only one down. Eight more girls continue to wait, torn between hope and despair.

One girl, who was pregnant, was sent home while eight wait to hear from relatives