Activists working for Apne Aap Women Worldwide, an anti-sex trafficking organization based in India, have been subjected to wrongful confinement, arbitrary arrest, humiliation and harassment in the last six months in Bihar, according to a press release from the group.
Apne Aap is a grassroots organization working to empower girls and women to resist and end sex trafficking in brothels, red light areas and slums in Bihar, West Bengal, Delhi and Maharashtra. The organization’s principal researcher in Bihar, Mohammed Kalam, was arbitrarily arrested June 1 and kept in jail for five nights, the press release said. Police accused Kalam of involvement in prostitution.
“The arrest is one of a series of attempts by the police to disrupt the work of anti-trafficking NGO in Araria,” founder Ruchira Gupta was quoted as saying.
The release said that on June 2, Shivdeep Lande, superintendent of police in Araria, Bihar, announced that his deputy had filed a report about Gupta and state coordinator Manish Jha. It added that on Feb. 11, the police illegally detained the 15-year-old daughter of a staff member of Apne Aap, and on Feb. 12, police falsely claimed that two Apne Aap staff members accompanied them on a raid.
These actions expose collusion between the police and traffickers and the urgent need for protection of Apne Aap staff members, the release said.
The group has started an online petition at http://www.avaaz.org
