Landlords escape Sex racket busts
Deccan Chronicle, 13th Jan 2011.
DECCAN CHRONICLE
As many as 160 cases have been registered under the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act over the last four years and in most cases, house owners have claimed that they had no clue what was going on in their premises and have escaped punishment.
A few months back the police raided different parts of the city including flats in S.R. Nagar, Panjagutta, Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills. About 20 apartments were found to be functioning as brothels.
However, only in three cases were the house owners convicted and notices of seizure issued.
The owners were let off in all the other cases. "In these cases, it was proved that the owners were explicitly involved in the crime," says IPS Umapathy.
Recently the police had raided the Delhi Lodge at Patny Centre and caught the proprietor, six auto drivers and had rescued 16 sex workers. B.Srinivasa Yadav (46), had been running the lodge on lease. Since the lodge's income was meagre, he had devised a plan to earn money. He used to allow sex workers along with their customers to use his premises and would charge hefty amounts on an hourly basis, said the police. On Thursday, the Central Zone Task Force police arrested Atluri Ramesh and Atluri Prasad, along with two sex workers. The accused had rented a flat at Saifabad for Rs 17,000 per month. The duo started earning Rs 5,000 to 10,000 per day. In none of the above cases were the house owners punished.
The apartments are, however, rented out for prostitution at double the price "The prices vary.
For instance, house owners in Ameerpet charge up to Rs 20,000 from brothel organisers and only around Rs 7,000 from normal tenants. In most cases, police officials fail to mention the owners in the FIR. Thus, they are not brought under the law. If the police officials pay heed to the Act, landlords, if at all they are unaware, would be more careful and make sure that such activities do not occur under the roof of their apartments," said Rammohan, in-charge of HELP NGO.
Mahesh Bhagwat, DIG of Eluru Range, who has been instrumental in nailing many landlords who were hand-in-glove with brothel organisers, says the main problem lies in the lack of awareness of rules. "Sometimes, the police officials themselves do not know about the existence of such a clause in the Act. This is the reason why landlords are not mentioned in the report," he adds.
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