Guwahati: Tribal girls have for long been targets of human trafficking gangs.
On Thursday, Assam Police busted an inter-state human trafficking racket, rescuing two girls who were sold and forced to marry older men in Rajasthan.
According to investigators, Leela Ram, who married one of the girls after paying Rs 4 lakh, has been arrested and brought to Assam.
The two prime accused, Rupali Dutta and Ganga Ganju from Barak Valley, are absconding.
“Their numbers have been traced outside Assam. We will arrest them soon and anyone involved in this racket will face action,” Cachar police superintendent Numal Mahatta informed, vowing to continue the operation against human trafficking.
Police launched an operation after a tea garden worker registered a complaint about the disappearance of his 15-year-old daughter on January 24.
Another girl of the same age was also found missing, but later returned home.
“Before disappearing, the girls met some women social workers offering jobs. We followed the pattern and discovered the racket targeting minor girls of tea gardens across Assam,” Mahatta said.
The girl who returned home told police the two of them fled home after being offered an attractive job. They were first taken to Hyderabad and then to Rajasthan, where they were asked to marry older men.
One of the girls managed to escape then only, and returned home via Delhi.
Assam Police formed an investigation team based on the girl’s statement and took help of Rajasthan Police. They traced the location of a phone number from which the second girl had called, and found her at Leela Ram’s house, in a village near Jaipur.
Ram, who bought the girl, was arrested immediately.
Another girl in Rajasthan’s Manpura told police she was also trafficked from Assam’s Sribhumi district and forced into marriage. She was produced before a court in Rajasthan, which gave custody of the duo to Assam Police.
Police have identified more people involved in the human trafficking racket.
