PUNE: Two special SUVs provided by the Centre to the city police to carry girls and women rescued from brothels, massage parlours and spas seem to have vanished into thin air.
The two sports utility vehicles (SUVs), which were allowed to have tinted glass to conceal the identities of the rescued women, are reported “missing” for the past three years and the city police are completely clueless about the cars’ whereabouts.
Under such circumstances, the police’s anti-human trafficking unit is now compelled to use an outdated van to carry the rescued women. Neither the anti-human trafficking unit nor the motor transport department authorities of the city police have any information about the vehicles provided to them eight years ago by the women and child development ministry.
Police commissioner K Venkatesham said, “I will look into the issue and ensure that the anti-human trafficking unit gets back the two vehicles.”
The Centre had provided such special vehicles to all anti-human trafficking units across the country about eight years ago and the Pune city police got two.
“One of the vehicles was supposed to be used by the police within the city and the Pimpri Chinchwad limits. The other vehicle was meant to carry out operations in the rural parts of Pune and neighbouring districts such as Satara, Ahmednagar and Solapur,” a senior police officer said.
“The law does not allow use of tinted glasses on the vehicles. But the government observed that many people tend to peep inside the vehicles carrying the rescued women to court or hospitals. Keeping this in mind, the government allowed use of dark glasses on these two vehicles to safeguard the privacy of the girls and women rescued from sex rackets,” the officer said.
When contacted, an official at the Shivajinagar police headquarters who maintains the entire fleet of vehicles belonging to the city police, said “We are clueless about such vehicles. At the same time, we would like to maintain that we have not discarded any such vehicle in the last two or three years.”
He added, “We will also check if the vehicles have been given to the Pimpri Chinchwad police commissionerate? If not, the vehicles must be in use in some part of the city or other.”
In the past few months, the anti-human trafficking unit has carried out a number of raids in massage parlours and spas in the upscale localities such as Baner, Koregaon Park, Kalyaninagar and Mundhwa and at the red light areas of Budhwar Peth.
The police, during such raids, rescued several women from West Bengal, Mumbai, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and also countries like Thailand and Uzbekistan.
The two sports utility vehicles (SUVs), which were allowed to have tinted glass to conceal the identities of the rescued women, are reported “missing” for the past three years and the city police are completely clueless about the cars’ whereabouts.
Under such circumstances, the police’s anti-human trafficking unit is now compelled to use an outdated van to carry the rescued women. Neither the anti-human trafficking unit nor the motor transport department authorities of the city police have any information about the vehicles provided to them eight years ago by the women and child development ministry.
Police commissioner K Venkatesham said, “I will look into the issue and ensure that the anti-human trafficking unit gets back the two vehicles.”
The Centre had provided such special vehicles to all anti-human trafficking units across the country about eight years ago and the Pune city police got two.
“One of the vehicles was supposed to be used by the police within the city and the Pimpri Chinchwad limits. The other vehicle was meant to carry out operations in the rural parts of Pune and neighbouring districts such as Satara, Ahmednagar and Solapur,” a senior police officer said.
“The law does not allow use of tinted glasses on the vehicles. But the government observed that many people tend to peep inside the vehicles carrying the rescued women to court or hospitals. Keeping this in mind, the government allowed use of dark glasses on these two vehicles to safeguard the privacy of the girls and women rescued from sex rackets,” the officer said.
When contacted, an official at the Shivajinagar police headquarters who maintains the entire fleet of vehicles belonging to the city police, said “We are clueless about such vehicles. At the same time, we would like to maintain that we have not discarded any such vehicle in the last two or three years.”
He added, “We will also check if the vehicles have been given to the Pimpri Chinchwad police commissionerate? If not, the vehicles must be in use in some part of the city or other.”
In the past few months, the anti-human trafficking unit has carried out a number of raids in massage parlours and spas in the upscale localities such as Baner, Koregaon Park, Kalyaninagar and Mundhwa and at the red light areas of Budhwar Peth.
The police, during such raids, rescued several women from West Bengal, Mumbai, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and also countries like Thailand and Uzbekistan.
Quick Links
Lok Sabha Election Schedule 2019Lok Sabha Election NewsDelhi Capitals teamMI team 2019Rajasthan Royals 2019RCB team 2019Maharashtra Lok Sabha ConstituenciesBJP Candidate ListBJP List 2019 TamilnaduShiv Sena List 2019AP BJP List 2019Mamata BanerjeeBJP List 2019 MaharashtraPriyanka GandhiBJP List 2019 KarnatakaAMMK Candidate List 2019BJP List 2019 WBLok Sabha Elections in Tamil NaduBSP List 2019 UPNews in TamilLok Sabha Poll 2019Satta Matka 2018PM ModiMahagathbandhanNagpur BJP Candidate ListChandrababu NaiduTamil Nadu ElectionsUrmila MatondkarNews in TeluguMadras High CourtTejashwi YadavArvind KejriwalTejasvi SuryaPawan KalyanArvind KejriwalYogi AdityanathJaya PradaSatta King 2019Srinagar encounter
Get the app