Teenage girl rescued in Hyderabad exposes Bangladesh-India trafficking network

Hyderabad police rescued a teenage girl trafficked from Bangladesh, highlighting cross-border human trafficking networks. This is the fourth such case in the city, with Bangladeshi women repeatedly found in brothels. Officials say poverty and organised mafia fuel the exploitation

Hyderabad: With the Hyderabad police rescuing a teenage girl trafficked from Bangladesh and forced into prostitution, the focus once again turns on the transnational human trafficking syndicates operating between Bangladesh and India.

This is the fourth such case reported in the city where Bangladeshi women were rescued from brothels operating in Khairatabad, Chaderghat and Bandlaguda.

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Rescue of Bangladeshi women from brothels in the city is not new. Since the early 2000s, police have been rescuing women trapped in brothels managed by well-organised mafia. Organisers have also been bringing women from Uzbekistan, Russia, Ukraine, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.

“In Bangladesh cases, the women cross into India illegally with the help of border agents through land or sea routes. The network of organisers in India and Bangladesh is very strong, and they manage payments to touts and others,” said a law enforcement official.

The women are lured with job offers and good pay before being brought into the country. “There is a lot of poverty in some regions of Bangladesh. By adopting a hunting or fishing strategy, the agents identify destitute women or girls and lure them into crossing over to India for better livelihood prospects. Once here, local identity documents are created for them, and the women are sent to other cities in India,” the official said.

A police officer added that due to poverty, men, women and children cross into India illegally and work by posing as Bengalis until they are caught.

A study conducted by the Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB) found that 2.7 per cent of victims of commercial sexual exploitation in India are Bangladeshi nationals. Those trafficked from Bangladesh are sold to pimps in different cities including Kolkata, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

In Hyderabad, prostitution organisers are operating from Attapur, Bandlaguda, Chintalmet, Himayatsagar Road and Champapet.