DCW summons senior Delhi Police officer after 5 Uzbek women go missing

New Delhi: The DCW on Wednesday summoned a senior Delhi Police officer after five of the seven Uzbek women, who were allegedly trafficked and sexually exploited in India, went missing from a private shelter home here.

The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has summoned the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), New Delhi, seeking an action taken report in the matter.

The DCW said the seven women had alleged that they were trafficked from Uzbekistan to India and forced into prostitution.

The women had managed to escape and get an FIR registered at the Chanakyapuri police station on August 28, the panel said.

Police said the women are in the age group of 18 to 25 years and a probe is underway.

DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal has also issued a notice to the private shelter home "to understand the circumstances under which the women have gone missing from the shelter home." The matter came to light after the Commission received a complaint from the seven Uzbek women about an international trafficking and prostitution racket, officials said.

According to the DCW, the Uzbek women had alleged that they were brought to India on the pretext of providing jobs, but were forced into "prostitution" and "sexual slavery".

They informed that some of them were brought to Delhi via Nepal and some directly to India on tourist and medical visas.

The women alleged that those who were brought to India via Nepal, their passports and other documents were taken away in that country, while the documents of other women were taken away by traffickers after arriving in India, the DCW said. The women alleged that they were forced into "prostitution" in India and were threatened and beaten when they resisted, the panel said.