Bihar: 17 women including minor girls being trafficked and allegedly sexually abused by orchestra band, rescued; 12 arrested

Bihar police rescued 17 women including five minor girls who were allegedly being trafficked and abused by an orchestra band in Bihar’s East Champaran district.

They were rescued when the police conducted raids on Monday morning at two places in Balwa Rai village near Mahnava Bazar which falls under Turkaulia police station range of the district that is about 195 km north of Patna.

Informing of the raid and rescue operation, Murali Manohar Manjhi, sub-divisional police officer, said “Altogether, 12 persons have been arrested and 17 women hailing from Nepal, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Odisha were rescued. Further investigations are going on”.
The police conducted raids when it got a tip-off of presence two Nepali girls in Turkaulia. The girls had gone missing from Mumbai.

“During an interrogation, the rescued girls alleged that orchestra group organizers used to exploit them sexually,” a police official was quoted by the Hindustan Times as saying.
This rescue operation happened month after the police had arrested a person named Motilal Yadav who was allegedly subjecting a girl to sexual abuse. Six girls were also rescued from Ghughli in West Bengal when a raid was carried in Dipau village of East Champaran district on August 24.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 8,000 cases of human trafficking were recorded in the country and 23,000 victims that contain 182 foreigners were rescued. 9, 034 (58%) of the 15, 379 victims in these cases are under 18 years.

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