Rahila and Tabu rescued from sex with customers, not boyfriends...
When we received intel that Rahila, a minor, was being sexually exploited in a small hotel in West Bengal, our team gathered evidence as quickly as possible and met with the police. For several days, we were redirected to various police stations before one office connected us with the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR). A consultant from the WBCPCR worked with us to develop a rescue strategy.
On September 11th, our team joined the police officers to raid the hotel. When we entered around 4:15pm, five people were in the lobby: the brothel keeper, a pimp, a customer, a hotel staff, and the landlord. The police immediately arrested them all!
Closet and outdoor rooftop of the small hotel
We quickly found Rahila on the second floor, but we continued through the building, searching every room on every floor. We found Tabu with a customer on the third floor and at first, she said the customer was her boyfriend. After the police questioned her, we discovered that Tabu, like Rahila, is also 17 years old and was being sexually exploited in the hotel. Brothel keepers and pimps often train girls to fear police officers. The girls are taught how to respond if there is a raid: say an older age than they are, claim that the customer is a boyfriend, etc. We admire Tabu’s bravery to be honest after the ways her abusers may have manipulated her.
The police collected evidence and locked the hotel. Our team accompanied the victims to a shelter home and the five suspects remained in police custody.
Comments