Nearly one-third of the victims of sex trafficking rescued in Goa over the past decade were from neighbouring Maharashtra. In all, 463 women have been rescued, of whom 158 were from Maharashtra , 93 from West Bengal, and 44 from Delhi. Arun Pandey of Arz (Anyay Rahit Zindagi), an organisation that fights sex trafficking, said, “A study conducted by Arz in Goa has identified 15 districts in Maharashtra as vulnerable to sex trafficking, with victims being pushed to Goa.
” Thane district ranks second after Mumbai, he said. Pandey said that sex trafficking from Thane to Goa is a well-organised operation. “The victims trafficked from Thane are natives of Maharashtra, West Bengal, and even Bangladesh,” he said.
“The Bangladeshi women are brought to Thane, routed to Gujarat, and then sent to Goa.” The money generated from sex trafficking in Thane is dispatched to Bangladesh through hawala, Pandey said. Factors that make some women easy targets for sex traffickers, Pandey said, include child marriage, domestic violence, and health crises.
A few dance bars and beauty parlours in Thane are among the hunting grounds for sex traffickers who look for vulnerable women for the flesh trade in Goa, Pandey added. Arz said that buses, trains, and planes are used for trafficking. “Women from the red light area in Bhiwandi in Maharashtra are also trafficked to Goa,” Pandey said.
Support is required from govt agencies and NGOs in Thane, Arz said, to prevent sex trafficking from Than.
