21 sent to Pune shelter clamour to return to brothel, manhandle staff

Sex workers don't want rescue

21 sent to Pune shelter clamour to return to brothel, manhandle staff

More than a score commercial sex workers rescued on Wednesday and sent to a shelter in the city began a violent clamour last morning for a return ticket to brothel life.

The demands began barely 24 hours since they were brought to the shelter, said Shaini Padiyare, in-charge of the Rescue Foundation home in Hadapsar that sheltered the 21 sex workers.

At 9 am, all 21 sex workers stomped out and created a ruckus. They broke off the grill and engaged in a fight with the management.

The sex workers rescued by the police

"The rescued sex workers began insisting on going back to Budhwar Peth," she said.

Budhwar Peth is the red light district of the city and the sex workers were found at a brothel there. Nine of the rescued sex workers are believed to be minors, and all of them Bangladeshis.

In yesterday's drama a member of the management suffered a minor injury on the arm. No sex worker was hurt.
A case was registered at the Vanudi police station.

"In major raids, initially such things happen," said Padiyare. "In an earlier raid, when 46 girls were brought, the same thing had happened."

The police suspect the sex workers were illegally brought into the country and forced into prostitution, though this could not be established from their statements taken after Wednesday's raid as these were found to be misleading.

"They are programmed to lie, so we don't have correct information about them," said Padiyare. "They even lie about their origin."

Padiyare said they were sure six of the sex workers were minors and these were produced before the Child Welfare Community.