Uganda asks India to verify rescued sex slaves

Aug 08, 2013

The Ugandan Mission in New Delhi, India is to send officials to Bagalur to verify the identities of the women rescued from sex slavery.

By Anne Mugisa     
                                                                                                                                                                                                     
The Ugandan Mission in New Delhi, India is to send officials to Bagalur to verify the identities of the women rescued from sex slavery by Indian Police last week.


Uganda's ministry of Foreign Affairs has revealed that the Mission has written a diplomatic note to Police in Bagalur seeking details of the incident before officials could fly out to verify the women. Bagalur is a two and a half hours flight from New Delhi.

Elly Kamahungye, the Foreign Affairs Spokesperson said that the Indian authorities want to deport the women after verification by the Ugandan Mission. The two Ugandan men arrested over trafficking of these women are to be charged, according to Kamahungye. Brian Albert (23) from Kampala and Kawuta Michael (23) from Entebbe are expected in court anytime, Kamahungye said.

A number of charges under different laws ranging from the Immoral Trafficking of Women (Prevention) Act, which prohibits buying or disposing of any person as a slave to the India Passport Act and Karnataka Excise Act have been preferred against them.

Kamahungye said verification is important in the circumstances in case the women were hiding their nationalities to avoid deportation.

However, he said that initial information from the Ugandan Mission in Delhi, indicates that the women had been taken there with promises of jobs and then they were trafficked. He said that it is not clear when or how the women went to India.

Preliminary reports from India indicated the victims were eleven but Kamahungye said that they are 10. Police in India said only one of them had a passport and visa. The rest, according to the Police, said that their passports had been left in New Delhi.

The women were rescued on Friday by Police who raided the trafficker's den on Srinivasapura Main Road near Bagalur after a tip-off.

Upon rescue, they reportedly told police that they had been lured to India with promises of acquiring jobs which turned out to be prostitution.

Police said that at the time of the arrest, the women revealed that they had been in that place for a few days and that they were also in Delhi and another Indian State of Hyderabad. The traffickers were allegedly luring customers on phone and online.

A number of mobile phones were also confiscated from the said traffickers' den by the Police.      

 

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