Four girls 'put up for sale' as sex workers on Whatsapp rescued in Delhi

A 13-year old girl, who came from a poor family in Ramgarh, Jharkhand, had run away from home hoping to make a better life for herself in Delhi. Little did she know what fate had in store for her. [caption id=“attachment_1728427” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “] A protest against child trafficking. Image courtesy- AFP[/caption] At the Purani Delhi railway station, she met a man who took her to a house in the Sitapuri where she, along with three other girls, went through 15 days of torture. The girls were allegedly assaulted, forced to consume alcohol and watch pornography, and were ‘put on sale’ as sex workers through messages on Whatsapp. Their ordeal was reported by the Hindustan Times and The Times of India on Friday. The matter came to light when one of the girls called up her family in Ghaziabad, after which the police conducted a raid on the house and rescued the girls. The HT report quoted an official saying that the girls were to be sold off for a price between Rs 40,000 to Rs 1.5 lakhs. Three persons were arrested in connection with the crime in Bihar. They have been identified as Ajay Kumar, Rajan Kumar and Raju Kumar Choudhary. According to the HT report, the accused used to engage in trafficking of girls, who would be forced into marriage and in work as domestic help. However, their key business was said to be the sex trade. While two of the rescued girls belong to Jharkhand, one is from Delhi and one is from Ghaziabad. Cases of human trafficking have been steadily increasing in India, reveal statistics from the National Crime records bureau. Here are figures for human trafficking from 2009 to 2013- [caption id=“attachment_2348462” align=“alignnone” width=“380”] Source- National Crime Records Bureau[/caption]