By Sanjay Paul in Goa
Panaji, 12 June: Nepali women are trafficked into Goa on the pretext of employment. In the last 10 years ,29 Nepali women were rescued from sex trafficking in the state by government agencies.
Non-government organizations working to stop human trafficking said the women brought from neighbouring country are pushed into prostitution in Goa as also in other states in the country.
In an attempt to stop this trafficking, the Goa-based NGO Amyay Rahit Zindagi (ARZ) held a consultation meeting in Nepal. At the meeting the ARZ flagged the evil of trafficking of Nepali women into Goa suggesting steps to stop it. The ARZ suggested to people attending the consultation upon the assistance required from the neighbouring country for the rehabilitation of the trafficked women and prosecution of traffickers.
The agencies there committed to assisting in preventing sex trafficking and would help in providing jobs/ services to the rescued women said ARZ Director Arun Pandey.
The NGO also pushed for a crackdown against traffickers in Nepal, highlighting the need to ensure that the rescued women are helped in deposition during prosecution in Goa.
The consultation was organised by ECAPT Luxembourg which was attended by some 50 participants from Nepal, Bangladesh, Jharkhand, Delhi and West Bengal. Similar consultations were also held in two states in India the ARZ said that many more such meetings would be organised in the future.
The girls are trafficked in to India from Nepal on the pretext of employment Pandey said referring to a trafficking case of six Nepali women who were rescued from a dance bar in North Goa in December 2023.
The rescued women had disclosed that they used to work in casinos and dance bars in Nepal, wherein the traffickers had promised them higher paying jobs in dance bars in India said ARZ chief Pandey.
But once they were in Goa the women were forced to go out with clients for commercial sexual activities said Pandey. He underscored the point that the women were the sole bread earners of their families so they needed the jobs.
The Modus Operandi
• Women are brought to Kathmandu if they live in villages, from Kathmandu they are taken to Dhangadi border in a bus. (UP- Nepal) An agent of the traffickers travels with them and pays all the expenses.
• Tickets to go to India are booked when the group reaches Dhangadi border.
• The women who have documents are asked to cross the border without their luggage the security personnel are told the women are visiting the cross- border bazaar to make local purchases.
• From there the women are told to proceed to Bangaon bazaar where they are directed to a specific mobile shop. The shop owner gives them Indian sim cars.
• At the market they are told to wait at a particular food stall and therein catch the bus which travels through the bazaar.
• The women who do not have documents are taken via the jungle route by an agent of the operators and brought to the Indian side where they catch the bust to the next city for further travel into India.
Very angry to see Goa a heaven on earth being in the news for such dirty and heinous crime.
Thans for reporting Sanjay Paul and great to see ARZ playing a role with police to eradicate this problem