Seven girls rescued from brothel in Araria, 30 arrested

Patna: Seven girls, including six minors, were rescued from brothels in Forbesganj town of Araria district during a late night raid on Friday, police said. At least 30 people were arrested from the spot, including alleged traffickers, pimps, women accused of luring girls, and customers.

Officials said the girls had been trafficked from different places, including one from Haryana, and were allegedly kept in inhuman conditions. Sources said the girls were subjected to sexual and physical abuses. An FIR has been registered against those involved.

According to sources, one of the rescued girls from Haryana, aged 16 years, told investigators that she had been raped by her uncle for four years. She said she had informed her father, but no action was taken. She later developed a friendship with a boy on the social media and to escape the rape she ran away from home to meet him. However, she was allegedly lured by a woman, who sold her to the brothel for Rs2.5 lakh.

Suresh Kumar, a member of Bal Mitra who was present during the rescue operation, said the girls were living in extremely distressing conditions. He said the youngest rescued girl was 12 years old, and all the minors were aged up to 16 years.

Liquor, intoxicating substances and hormone injections were also recovered during the raid.

Kumar said the brothels were functioning from a facility designed in an interconnected manner, allowing movement between units. He added that several people involved in the racket managed to flee during the operation, and some girls identified during earlier reconnaissance could not be rescued.

ADG, weaker section, Amit Kumar Jain, said the rescue was part of “Naya Savera 2.0”, launched in April to identify and rescue minors and adults trapped in bonded labour and sexual exploitation networks. He said police teams would continue raids based on intelligence inputs.

Jain said the campaign had recently led to the rescue of 62 bonded labourers from Gaya and 26 from Saharsa. Police said further investigation was underway to trace those who escaped and identify the wider trafficking network linked to the Forbesganj operation.