Team Herald
CALANGUTE: Girls and women trafficked to Goa for commercial sexual exploitation are mostly supplied to the coastal belt. Most of the domestic tourists visit Calangute than any other beach in Goa. It now looks like human trafficking is emerging as an organized crime network as it can be seen that this year barely six cases have been registered under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. Probably, one reason could be that pimps have resorted to social media and online sites to boost their business.
Few of the prominent locations where the pimps are caught handing over the victims to the customer during raids carried out by Calangute Police are at busy and well known areas. The Calangute Police have identified few such places which are used as landmarks by the pimps. These includes near Calangute mall, St Alex Church, Newton’s Supermarket, Snip Salon and Spa, Jambheshwar Temple, St Thereza Church, Candolim, Pizza Hut, Navtara Hotel, KFC, Estrela de Mar Beach Resort, Calangute, Hotel Sinq Signature, Hotel La Calypso, Hotel Viva Calangute, Anand Sagar Restaurant, Fat Fish and St. Anthony Chapel.
The Calangute PI, Jivba Dalvi informed that over the last six years a total of 138 victims have been rescued from the trafficking act carried out in Calangute jurisdiction itself. Besides this 101 accused in the crime have been arrested and placed in judicial custody depending upon how many victims they were held with.
The biggest racket was busted was on June 30, 2013 at Rio Bar and Restaurant, Calangute where 18 victims were rescued from Sikkim, Manipur, Goa and Nepal. Another huge racket was busted this year on April 8 where five victims from Uzbekistan, Hyderabad and Maharashtra were rescued during a raid carried out by Calangute Police at Green Peace Holiday Homes, Candolim.
Dalvi goes on to explain that most of these victims are lodged in a protective home at the respective place they come from. “The NGO records the statement of the victims that are rescued in the presence of the PI of that respective police station. The girls are further lodged at a protective home after a thorough study on their social and financial background. Usually the girls who are recued can only give us details of the pimp who brings her to be handed over to the potential customer or we get the details through the phone used,” he told.
“So far from the 138 victims that have been rescued only 9 are foreign national while the rest are from Delhi, Mumbai, West Bengal, Assam, Nepal, Karnataka and across the country,” he added.
If a pimp is held in possession of one victim he is liable to imprisonment of seven to ten years. In the case of two victims then the accused held in this act is liable for an imprisonment of ten years and up to life imprisonment. “If the victim is a minor then the imprisonment can vary anything between ten years to life imprisonment. It has also been noticed that majority of the victims came from rural background,” told Dalvi.
These are few of the crimes that have got recorded but there are probably many more that have gone unnoticed in Calangute jurisdiction.
