Arrested sex workers after a raid at Nagpur’s red light area – Ganga Jamuna – along with police officials. (Photo by: Gursshheen Gahllen)

On Thursday late evening, Nagpur Police arrested eight ‘sex workers’ during a raid at Ganga Jamuna red light area. Lakadganj Police Station Police Inspector in-charge Satyavan B Mane got a tip-off about minor girls being trafficked in Ganga Jamuna area, which falls under his jurisdiction. When Mane, along with his team, reached the said spot, he didn’t find any minor girls there but he found a group of eight women allegedly soliciting men for paid sex in the vicinity (less than 100 meters) of Durga and Balaji temple.

When Nation Next spoke with PI Mane about the raid, he said, “We got the information from a source around 7pm on Thursday about minors being forced into prostitution at Ganga Jamuna. I, along with my team, immediately reached the spot and we started our investigation. We split our team into two as we further moved in the area. We spotted a few women trying to draw attention of the passing by men by making sexual overtures at them. We immediately took these eight women into our custody with the help of our female police officer for soliciting near religious places and creating nuisance for the residents and passers by. We have filed a charge sheet under The Immortal Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956. As the investigation is still going on, we are yet to find out if they have any role in trafficking of minor girls. We raided certain other places, including their residences, but didn’t find any minor girls anywhere. If and when, we find any proofs of trafficking of minor girls, we will definitely slap additional charges against them.”

On asking about the recent case that Mane cracked of trafficking of minor girls, he said, “Ten days back, we rescued under-aged girls from Ganga Jamuna and they were sent to a child hostel at Patankar Chowk.”