Traffickers raid home for women, abduct 4

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A nine-member gang broke into a rescue home for trafficked women at Sharadanagar, Ramanthapur in Hyderabad and kidnapped four of the inmates in the early hours of Saturday.

The lax security at the Ujjawala Rescue Home made it possible for the unidentified persons, who were equipped with iron rods and other weapons, to enter the building. They broke open seven locked doors to get in and took away the women after threatening the security guard.

The other inmates of the rescue home said that the abductors tried to take away 10 women, and when some of them resisted, they were badly beaten up.

The four abducted women, two from Mumbai, one from Bangladesh and one from West Bengal, had been rescued by the Kukatpally police and were living in the rescue home following an order from the Miyapur court six months ago, Uppal police said.

Minister for women’s welfare and child development Sunitha Lakshma Reddy has ordered a probe by the city police and the principal secretary of the women and child welfare department into the kidnapping, and told them to submit a report to her.

Recalling their ordeal, one of the inmates of the rescue home said, “When we screamed, they threatened us, showing us their weapons and asked us to shut up. They also beat us up brutally when we tried to resist.”

She added that the abductors damaged some furniture inside the building. Three other inmates sustained minor injuries in the attack.

Police suspect the kidnappers are a trafficking gang from Maharashtra or North India.

Locals, activists attack rescue home manager

Following the abduction of four women from a rescue home at Sharadanagar, Ramanthapur on Saturday, Uppal police inspector Lakshmi Kantha Reddy said, “We suspect the abductors must be brokers for women trafficking gangs, who had been working with the women before they were rescued by the police. He added that police have registered a case against the unknown abductors under IPC 448, and 224.

The rescue home is run by the ministry for women’s welfare and child development with the help of an NGO. The issue of security here is obviously not one the ministry is overly bothered about.

State commissioner for women’s development and child welfare Chiranjiv Choudhary and other senior officials visited the home.

There were some tense moments when some of the locals and women political activists attacked Satyanarayana Reddy, the manager of the rescue home, alleging that he had helped the kidnappers commit the offence.

They also alleged that the management supplies women to various brothels secretly.