E-Paper
Bangladeshi nationals among 21 women rescued from prostitution in Pune; 2 arrested
Pune police arrested two women and sent 21 women from multiple brothels in Budhwar peth to a rescue home
The Pune police arrested two women and sent 21 women from multiple brothels in Budhwar peth to a rescue home. The operation was conducted between 5am-6am on Sunday morning.
The police conducted the combing operation in Bata lane of the red-light area.
The two arrested women have been identified as Babita Shrishal Gaikwad (45) of the Chandramani Niwas building and Zareena Mallamsahib Sayyed (45) owner of the Aai-Dada building in Budhwar peth.
A third woman identified as Jyoti Kattimani of the Saitara building is on the run.
The two arrested women were remanded to three days in police custody by a local court, according to the police.
“Some of those women are from Bangladesh. The process to send them back has been initiated. There are women from other states of India as well — West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat,” said senior police inspector Kishor Nawande of Faraskhana police station.
The operation was conducted by a team of 25 police officials and five police officers from the Pune police headquarters as well as the Faraskhana police station.
The girls told the police that the arrested owners of the building, who acted as pimps, pocketed 50 per cent of the payment for their services. The arrested, as well as rescued women, were produced in a local court on Sunday.
The women were sent to a home run by the Rescue Foundation in Mohammadwadi, Hadapsar.
A case under Sections 344 (wrongful confinement for ten or more days), 366(b) (importation of girl from foreign country) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 3 (punishment for keeping a brothel or allowing premises to be used as a brothel), 4 (punishment for living on the earnings of prostitution), 5 (procuring, inducing or taking person for the sake of prostitution), 6 (detaining a person in premises where prostitution is carried on), 7 (prostitution in or in the vicinity of public places) of Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act, 1956, was registered at Faraskhana police station against the three women.
