‘Staying alone? Make your boring life interesting. Meet with lots of high profile, fun loving local male/female friends. Call 9********8 or visit www.k****n.com’... Were you one of the few thousand Bangaloreans who were hit by this mass SMS in the last two weeks? If then, steer clear of the temptation to reach out to these criminals. In the guise of promoting their newly launched escort services, this gang has managed to lure children and tempt them to log on to their website. Now the gang is under the Central Crime Branch (CCB) scanner.
While such messages have been doing the rounds for many years now, this time, not just teens and adolescents, but many children below 14 years too fell prey to this racket and logged on to the website indicated in the message. Initial investigations by agencies show that the culprits got their hands on the database of mobile numbers and circulated the message luring people to call them or log onto their website.
When one such worried parent approached a private detective agency, it was learnt that not less than 500 kids had logged onto the website in merely 20 days since the message was sent.
When questioned about tracking this racket down, the Women and Narcotics Wing of the Central Crime Branch said that they would begin investigations soon. “We are taking action but we will analyse the sensitivity of the situation first. When such messages reach kids, their initial curiosity needs to be curbed. There are barriers parents themselves should set,” said D M Krishnam Raju, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime).
This new racket has come to light only months after the CCB busted some of the main gangs involved in human trafficking and child pornography. “Such criminals will always come up with new ways to lure kids and tempt them by playing on their curiosity. We do not want our kids to become vulnerable to such things,” said Brinda Adige, a children’s activist.
Activists are questioning the government’s silence. “Human trafficking is obviously an organised crime. Various stakeholders are gaining from remaining silent about this. Enforcement agencies that are trained to track down criminals and gain information about their modus operandi are doing nothing. Is this a genuine lack of information or a conspiracy of silence?” questioned Sunitha Krishnan, co-founder, Prajwala (an NGO working for the rehabilitation of sex workers and their children).
According to a Home Department survey conducted in 2009, at least 100 million people were involved in human trafficking in India. The CBI has further estimated that in 2009, about 90 per cent of trafficking took place within the country, and that there were three million prostitutes, of which 40 percent were children. As per activists, Karnataka is among the top three destinations for domestic and international escorts.
Meanwhile, the CCB, that is looking at tracking down this racket, has argued that awareness against this crime needs to come from the government. “We present cases and statistics to the government. Based on these details, they need to take rightful action and create awareness,” Krishnam Raju said.
Even as the racket is being investigated, authorities warn that following the
link mentioned in the message or calling the number, would bring the victim in the line of fire, in the due course of investigation.
Comments
0 comment