NE NEWS SERVICE
SURAT, SEPT 12
A 14-year-old Bangladeshi girl was rescued from a massage parlour in Surat and three persons were arrested for allegedly trafficking and forcing her into prostitution, police said on Saturday.
Teams from the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) and Surat crime branch rescued the minor girl and a 20-year-old woman, a native of Punjab, from a massage parlour in the city’s Althan locality on Friday, a crime branch official said.
The victims were allegedly trafficked and forced into prostitution, the official said.
Three persons, including the owner of the massage parlour, were arrested, while four others are wanted for their role in trafficking the Bangladeshi girl to Surat via Bengaluru and Mumbai, he said.
Acting on a tip-off, the city crime branch and AHTU formed separate teams to locate the minor and a raid was conducted at the establishment, the official said.
The arrested accused included Ankitbhai Kantheriya, the owner of the establishment, and his friends Vijay Padhara and Vishal Vankhede, he said.
The accused have been booked under sections 370(A) (for trafficking minor for sexual exploitation) and other relevant sections of the IPC, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, the official said.
