Delhi-based Nepali national who trafficked children from Punjab held

The Weekly Times, Wednesday 22 July 2020. For the first time in many years, a 42-year-old alleged child trafficker, who is a Nepali national, was arrested here on July 20 for allegedly trafficking at least two minor girls from Punjab before "placing" them as domestic helps with two employers in Jaipur and Delhi, a raid-and-rescue operation, followed by police investigations, has revealed.
While an FIR was filed against the Nepali national, Vishnu, in Jaipur, the Delhi police was in the process of registering a case against him separately till last reports came in. It is likely that the Delhi Police FIR would be lodged by this evening. Vishnu was living in Delhi for the last 20 years or so.

Vishnu's trafficking network was small, comprising a nephew who also drove his vehicle. The police probe so far has found that Vishnu ran Vishnu Sukmati Placement Agency which placed one of the girls, Sonia (name changed) from Delhi, at the residence of an employer at Ayanagar under Mehrauli police station some six months ago. A few days ago, Delhi-based NGO, Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), received a complaint that a minor girl from Punjab had been brought to Delhi by her aunt for being placed as a domestic help through a placement agency.
It is alleged that 16-year-old Sonia was lured to Delhi with the national capital's "fancy" lifestyle. She quit school in Punjab before moving to Delhi. A BBA "source" shared information that an alleged trafficker Vishnu had placed Sonia at an unknown residence even as he refused to tell the girl's parents her whereabouts in Delhi if they didn't cough up Rs 18,000. At this stage, the informant knew of an address in Kotla Mubarakpur and Sonia's phone number. This number was found switched off each time BBA activists tried to reach out to Sonia.
BBA activists made several visits to ascertain the address, but these attempts did not yield any positive result. The NGO also tried to stake out Vishnu when a BBA staff describing himself as a prospective "customer". Vishnu is said to have bitten the bait when he told the BBA activists to reach Ayanagar where he would provide the "customer" with a girl aged between 12 and 14 and who would work as a domestic help. But he proved to be wily, keeping the BBA activists waiting. With no precise address or a phone number, the BBA had no other clue to track Sonia down.
Meanwhile, after several attempts to reach out on the phone number supplied by the informant, BBA activists could successfully get across to Sonia. While Sonia had no knowledge of the address where she was lodged, she did provide a clue -- a large farm house opposite the house where she worked. The NGO's search narrowed down to farm houses in Ayanagar. A potential match was identified and Sonia was located at the residence where she worked.
A rescue operation by officials of the Mehrauli SDM's office subsequently conducted a raid and Sonia was located. While incriminating documents related to Vishu's placement agency were seized, his wife tried to obstruct the official from performing their duty. When she finally relented, Vishnu was taken into custody.
According to Sonia's statement to the police, when she was placed as domestic help after arriving in Delhi from Punjab, she was down with high fever. Suspecting her to be Covid-19 positive, the employer told Vishnu to take her back. While Sonia's fever last about a week, she was not taken to the doctor and no tests were done on her. Vishnu, who had by this time taken her back to his own establishment, gave him some tablets for her fever. She would often be beaten up by Vishnu and his wife. Her pleas to be sent back to her mother fell on deaf ears. Her phone would be confiscated from time to time whenever she complained to her parents about the maltreatment.
Sonia confided to BBA activists that one her cousins, 16-year-old Priya (name changed) had also been placed as a domestic help. During a few telephonic conversations, Priya would narrate her tale of torture at the hands of her employer. Following Vishnu's arrest yesterday, he admitted to the police that he had placed Priya at a residence in Jaipur. Once her location and address were confirmed, the BBA shared the information with the Jaipur police which acted swiftly to rescue her. Both Sonia and Priya have now been placed in quarantine. In another rescue operation on July 20, the authorities rescued three other minor boys. “ This is an example of how the nexus has been built from Punjab to Delhi and then to Jaipur. I request the Anti Human Trafficking unit in Punjab to kindly look into the matter as the trafficker operated from there”