Delhi: Woman arrested for trafficking minor girls from Jharkhand to Delhi

The Delhi Police have arrested a woman for allegedly trafficking minor girls from Jharkhand to capital, Delhi. The 42-year-old woman was carrying a reward of Rs 25,000 on her head has been arrested in West Delhi’s Punjabi Bagh area.

The arrested women named Prabha Muni and his husband Rohit Muni allegedly ran an NGO, luring minor girls with false promises of providing jobs, and sold them off. She would allegedly place girls as a domestic help at various households in Delhi too.

According to the Jharkhand police, the accused, Prabha Muni, is alleged to be high up in the human trafficking ring operating in eastern India’s Chota Nagpur belt and had recently extended operations to Santal Pargana — the tribal belt region.

Police also claimed the couple have been active for more than a decade, the case was registered against them in 2013, since then they were on the run.

“They set up their own placement agency and lured girls from the tribal belt with the promise of jobs, only to set them up in several households with below minimum wages and not transferring the money to their parents,” a police officer told Indian Express.

Police also added that, she would only trafficking girls between the ages of 13 to 14 years. Muni emerged as prime accused in a case, wherein three minor girls were rescued from domestic work and reunited with their parents. The girls had levelled allegations of sexual assault and claimed that Muni trafficked them to Delhi.

Rishi Kant, who heads NGO Shakti Vahini quoted as saying to Indian Express, “I have spoken to countless girls we rescued from Delhi and they have all given statements before police and CWC that Muni trafficked them.”

superintendent of Police (Godda) Rajeev Ranjan told the daily, “During my tenure, over 100 girls were rescued. A majority of them went willingly, but issues arose when they were not paid. Muni trafficked girls from bordering areas in Rourkela, Odisha and got them to Delhi via train.”

Also read:Delhi: Servant plots, steals Rs 70 lakh, cops arrest co-accused