A Shakti Vahini member with three trafficking victims rescued in New Delhi. File picture

Guwahati, June 29: The lure of better jobs in Delhi is leading minors from the Northeast into traps laid by traffickers posing as placement agencies.

Delhi police, with the help of anti-trafficking NGO Shakti Vahini, recently rescued four minor girls from Assam during raids on four placement agencies in Delhi and arrested four persons, including a woman from Sonitpur district, on charges of human trafficking.

Subsequently, the NGO sought a thorough inquiry into some Delhi-based placement agencies, allegedly involved in trafficking of minor girls from the region.

Rishi Kant, a member of the NGO, said in a joint rescue operation conducted by the anti-human trafficking unit of Delhi police and Shakti Vahini on June 23, eight girls were rescued from four placement agencies illegally operating in the Shakurpur area of Delhi.

He said among the victims, four girls belonged to Assam, while three were from Jharkhand and one from Chattisgarh.

The raided placement agencies were Babita Enterprise, IndiaMaid Bureau, Deepika Placement Agency and Mission Welfare Society. The arrested persons have been identified as Ravinder Yadav, Pradeep Toppo, Vimal Karketta and Babita.

“We want a larger investigation by Delhi police and Assam police in this matter,” he said, adding, “There are organised rackets involved in trafficking and these should be busted.”

Kant said Babita, hailing from Assam, along with her Bihar-origin husband Praveen Kumar, was running Babita Enterprise and trafficking girls from Assam as well as Bihar.

The minor girls were trafficked by the placement agencies on the pretext of a giving them good jobs in Delhi and subsequently, were employed as domestics.

“The rescued victims said the placement agencies took away their salaries without giving any share to them or their poor families,” Kant said.

According to Delhi police, the rescued girls wanted to go home but were illegally detained by the placement agencies, which also withheld their earnings. These agencies wanted to continue employing them as domestic help.

Kant said another case was registered against Babita on May 6, 2011, at the crime branch police station, which is now under trial. “In the earlier case, Babita was arrested by Delhi police while selling a girl to a decoy customer for Rs 1,50,000 through Babita Enterprise. After investigation it was found she had placed many minor girls in the capital as domestic help,” he said.

Kant said Shakti Vahini was coordinating with the Assam government to get the victims rehabilitated.