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Mumbai: On Thursday, the crime branch unit 5 arrested a family from Kurla station for allegedly running prostitution racket including minor girls in Mumbai’s Govandi area.
The police rescued two minor girls immediately and arrested one Sabina Malik(23) and her associates Aftab Malik(26) and Mehjabi Shaikh(29), in this case.
The crime branch unit 5 received information about a gang trafficking girls for prostitution, including minors, in Mumbai's Govandi area, and they intend to bring two minor girls to the Kurla area. A squad from the crime branch set up a trap and arrested three people who were luring poor girls into prostitution.
The primary investigation revealed that all three accused are from the same family, Aftab and Sabina are husband and wife and Mehjabi is an elder sister of Sabina.
According to the police, The Malik family has reportedly been involved in operating a prostitution racket in the area for the past 3 to 4 months. They allegedly target girls from very poor backgrounds, persuading them to engage in these activities in exchange for money.
During the investigation, it was found that the accused maintain a list of people who contact them via phone to arrange meetings. They allegedly tell individuals to choose a time and location, after which they charge them a large fee.
The police have stated that none of the three accused had past criminal records. The accused are booked under The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act(POCSO), The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act,1956,(PITA) and sections 3(5) and 143(1), (5), Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita.
