delhi

Updated: Aug 10, 2019 19:59 IST

A 27-year-old woman who was allegedly sold to a brothel in Delhi’s GB Road was rescued on Thursday after one of her clients decided to help her, the police said.

The client made a phone call to the woman’s brother, who too met his sister in the brothel by posing as a customer. “Once the woman’s brother had verified the information, he approached the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) who contacted us. We raided the brothel on Thursday and rescued the woman,” Mandeep Singh Randhawa, deputy commissioner of police (central district), said.

The woman was an employee with a private firm in Kolkata.

The police have registered a case of rape and trafficking at Kamla Market police station and arrested the alleged manager of the brothel.

The woman’s ordeal began in June when she befriended another woman who allegedly promised to help her bag a better job in Delhi. The victim was put in touch with a Delhi man who allegedly sold her to a brothel on GB Road.

The woman’s family hadn’t been able to contact her since June 10, two days after her disappearance on June 8, because the brothel manager had reportedly seized her phone.

“The woman was not allowed to leave the brothel and had no access to a cellphone, because of which she couldn’t escape,” another senior police officer said.

But earlier this week, a Bengali man was among the victim’s customers. “When the man initiated a conversation with her, she revealed her ordeal. He offered to help her and took her brother’s cellphone number from her,” said the officer.

That man later contacted the victim’s brother and shared all details with him. “The woman’s brother had filed a police complaint in Kolkata, but the woman’s whereabouts were unknown all this while,” the officer said.

“The woman’s brother first verified the information by visiting the brothel as a customer. Once he had his sister’s precise location, he visited the DCW office and sought their help,” the officer said.

The DCW, in a statement, said they had formed a team of their own, visited the local police and together set out to raid the brothel.

DCW Swati Maliwal Maliwal also demanded that the police arrest the middlemen and women involved in the crime. Police said they are speaking to the woman to ascertain the identities of the suspects.

After the rescue, Maliwal also reiterated her demand for shutting down the GB Road brothels. “The women there need to be properly rehabilitated as they are the victims of trafficking and worst for of crimes,” she said.