Police have nabbed a member of a gang that would kidnap girls, and then sell them to small-scale units where they work as labourers
Police have nabbed a member of a gang that would kidnap girls, and then sell them to small-scale units where they work as labourers
For the past three months, the hapless parents of a 14-year-old girl have been at their wits' end, searching in vain for their missing daughter. Her recovery yesterday put an end to their misery, but has opened up a can of worms, with cops stumbling upon a child labour racket flourishing in Dharavi.u00a0
In the police net: Ajmerunissa Khan, who kidnapped the teenageru00a0
three months ago and sold her to a jewellery-manufacturing unit, inu00a0
police custody yesterday. PIC/SAMIULLAH KHAN
Besides rescuing the girl, Malwani cops arrested a female member of a gang that allegedly kidnaps children below the age of 14 and supplies them to small-scale units to work as labourers. Cops suspect that the gang also sells girls into prostitution.
According to police, the accused, identified as Ajmerunissa Khan, had kidnapped the 14-year-old girl and forced her to work for a jewellery-manufacturing unit in Dharavi.u00a0The girl' s parents had filed a missing person's complaint with the police three months ago. About three days ago, Malwani locals spotted the girl entering Ajmerunissa's house. They informed the girl's parents, who in turn filed kidnapping charges against the woman. Cops then started keeping track of Ajmerunissa's phone records, through which they learnt that the lost girl had been sent to Dharavi.u00a0
Cops added that the gang members would often target adolescent girls who were unhappy in their homes, lure them with the promise of financial independence and the good life, and then sell them.u00a0S Shaikh, senior police inspector of the Malwani police station, said that Ajmerunissa and her husband had influenced the girl to stay with a gang member in Dharavi.u00a0
"We are now tracing the woman identified as Kavita, with whom the girl stayed. The rest of the gang members are Rihana, Tayyeba, Geeta and Ajmerunissa's husband Ashfaq," said Shaikh.u00a0Cops have arrested Ajmerunissa on charges of kidnapping, and booked the jewellery unit's owner for employing child labourers. The police have sent the girl to the Nagpada hospital for medical examination, as they suspect that she was raped.u00a0
