Thanks to good samaritan, 3 Mizoram women escape Rudrapur’s horror spa, rescue 5 others

Dehradun: Three young women from Mizoram, helped by a local auto-rickshaw driver, managed to escape an alleged prostitution racket in Rudrapur town of Udham Singh Nagar district and one of them after reaching Aizawl approached cops there, which led to a joint operation by police teams from Mizoram and Uttarakhand to rescue five more girls and arrest six accused.Promised Rs 20,000 a month on Facebook by a woman from Mizoram for a “lucrative job” in Rudrapur, the victims started leaving their native state a few months ago only to be found trapped, threatened and tortured.According to police, three of them couldn’t bear it anymore and clandestinely contacted the driver who used to ferry them to clients. He was probably the only stranger they could trust. Not letting them down, the auto-rickshaw driver went to the spa “den” and broke into one of the rooms where the three -- aged 20-22 years -- were confined.The driver directly drove them to the town’s railway station, and seeing their traumatic state along with language and cultural difficulties, he guided them with the train details and gave them money for their journey home.“It all happened in April-end,” Aizawl ASP (crime), Zoramthara, told TOI, adding that, “One of the escapees filed a complaint at All Women Police Station in Aizawl on May 1.”After registering an FIR, Mizoram police set up an SIT team and sent a team led by a female inspector to Rudrapur to rescue the remaining women. And the spa was raided on Tuesday.Zoramthara said the victims belong to impoverished families and were desperately seeking work back home. “The one who posted the job offer with a contact number was a Mizoram woman, who was running the spa with her live-in partner from UP. Believing her, the victims took the risk,” the ASP added.“She made travel arrangements from Aizawl to Guwahati by road and onward journey to Delhi by train. They reached Rudrapur by taxi and after meeting the accused were told of the ‘extra work’. The victims were threatened, force-fed drugs and locked up in a room. Instead of the promised Rs 20,000 salary, they were paid Rs 500,” he said.Confirming the incident, US Nagar SSP Ajay Ganapati, said the district police’s anti-human trafficking unit planned the joint action with Mizoram police.“Of the six arrested, one was running the spa with her partner, and the remaining four were managing the operations. The accused woman’s sister was also linked to the spa,” said the SSP. In Rudrapur on Friday, inspector Maria, who led the Mizoram team, added: “We’re probing this case thoroughly and will be in Uttarakhand for the next few days.”