E-Paper
Dramatic increase in number of foreign sex workers ‘rescued’ in Pune
Police attribute the rise in foreign nationals involved in sex trade to the Indian fetish for fair skin and growing disposable incomes in city.
There has been a sudden rise in foreign commercial sex workers in Pune. On November 13, the Yerawada police raided a high profile spa located in a mall in the posh city suburb of Kalyaninagar and rescued six young Thai women who were allegedly forced into the sex trade.
The police found that the women had been staying in the city for the past one year and came to India on a business visa. They worked at several upmarket spas in Koregaon Park and other localities, before shifting to Kalyaninagar from where they came under police action.
Police attribute the rise of foreigners in sex trade to the Indian fetish for fair skin and growing disposable incomes thanks to the information technology boom. Apart from that, police cited the business class as the main patrons of the flesh trade.
Data available with the Social Security Cell of the City Crime branch shows that the Pune police rescued 19 foreign nationals involved in the sex trade from massage parlours, spas and hotels in the city.
Out of 19 rescued, 10 were Thais, one each from Nepal, Russia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and five from Bangladesh. In 2016, seven Bangladeshis and one Uzbek women were rescued during anti-human trafficking raids by the city police.
“This is the first time we are seeing a sudden spike in foreign nationals from Thailand and other countries coming to Pune to work in the local sex trade industry. The young women from Thailand, Russia and Central Asian countries visit Pune on tourist visas and through WhatsApp, get in touch with local agents to start scouting for customers,” said Sanjay Patil, police inspector in-charge of Social Security Cell (SSC), crime branch, Pune police.
Patil further explained that the women use WhatsApp to send their images to local pimps-cum-agents who then scout for customers. “Once customers are tapped, the sex workers directly get in touch and call them to rooms booked in posh hotels so that they escape the eye of law enforcement agencies,” he said.
Since WhatsApp technology is encrypted, it becomes difficult to crack communication and so we focus on their Call Details Records (CDR), and also monitor SMS communication. Besides, we have our own network of informants who keep us updated on the flesh trade, Patil explained.
Regarding the charges, Patil says that a new customer has to pay ₹2,000 as entry fee, known as ‘counter charge’, and then between ₹4,000 and ₹5,000 for an “encounter”. Besides this, sex workers will charge more for other services which are offered according to needs of customers.
