The Kashimira police have filed a trafficking case against unidentified agents for luring a 43-year-old woman with the promise of placing her as a helper in Oman and forcing her into the sex trade. The Mira Road woman, who was a casting agent for junior artists in Hindu films, had paid an agent Rs 3 lakh.
In June 2022, the victim contacted a Justdial agent and met with her and her boss in Andheri. They promised her a job as a housemaid in Oman for Rs 25,000 per month, which she initially refused. She got a job in Muscat when they gave her better terms, and she left India on July 26.
On arriving in Muscat, a man in his 20s picked her up at the airport and drove her to a bungalow owned by an Omani. Later that day, she was taken to an office where she saw other women, most of them from India, Malaysia, and Bangladesh.
The women revealed to her that they had been brought there to be prostitutes. The panicked woman contacted her agents and sent messages on social media, but they did not respond. When she protested against the handlers in the office, they abused and assaulted her.
She eventually reached an acquaintance in Muscat, who helped her escape after she paid her captors Rs. 1.6 lakh. Her rescuers contacted her family, and she returned home on August 2. On August 23, she filed a police complaint against the agents at the Kashimira police station.
Following a preliminary investigation, the police on Tuesday registered a case against the unidentified agents under Sections 370 (trafficking), 420 (cheating), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.