Kidnapping case lodged days after five Uzbek women went missing from shelter home

A missing complaint had been lodged earlier after the women went missing on October 28

A case of kidnapping has been lodged by the Delhi police, days after five of the seven women from Uzbekistan allegedly went missing from a shelter home in Dwarka. Searches for the women are ongoing, the police said.

DCP (Dwarka) Harsha Vardhan said, “We are following all standard operating protocols and efforts are on to trace the victims.”

Earlier a missing complaint had been lodged at the Dwarka North police station after the women went missing from the shelter home in the early hours of October 28. A police officer said staffers of the shelter home are also being questioned in order to narrow down on the possible suspects.

On November 5, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had taken suo motu cognizance of media reports regarding the incident and issued notice to the Delhi Chief Secretary and the Police Commissioner, seeking an action taken report in the matter.

The seven women were were rescued from a sex trafficking racket in August after the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) had received a complaint on the matter. It was alleged that the women were allegedly brought to India on the pretext of jobs but were later forced into prostitution by agents who also took away their travel documents.

The victims were then rescued with the help of an NGO and the Uzbekistan Embassy and a case under IPC sections pertaining to trafficking was lodged at the Chakayapuri police station. Three of the 10 accused persons have been arrested so far.  The missing women are aged between 18 and 36 years and some of them have children back in Uzbekistan, the police added.

A senior officer had said that CCTVs outside the shelter home were non-functional at the time of the incident and that none of the shelter home staff were present when the women went missing. The officer had earlier told The Hindu that the shelter home is situated inside a small DDA flat inside a gated locality in the area and allegedly did not have a licence. “The shelter’s home door was locked from outside when we reached the spot. The remaining two women did not know anything about the incident which raises suspicion towards the shelter home staff,” another officer said.