Duo jailed for forcing teen into prostitution

Two Indian men were each sentenced to five years in prison on Wednesday as they were found guilty of human trafficking and forcing a Bangladeshi female teen into prostitution.

The duo including a worker (27) and a visitor (28), were convicted of running a brothel. The two, along with others at large, are believed to have lured the victim to come to Dubai and work in a factory. The Court of First Instance sentenced a third Indian man, who worked as a watchman, to one year in prison for aiding and abetting the pair in the crime of running a brothel. The court ordered that all the three be deported after completing their prison terms.

The verdict can be appealed within 15 days at the Court of Appeal. According to prosecution records, the two main accused forced the teenager to work as a prostitute in an apartment, run as a brothel, in Naif after beating her up and confining her.

The victim told the prosecutor that she was under-18 when she arrived in Dubai on a visit visa upon a prior agreement with a compatriot in her home country. She had paid him 180,000 Bangladeshi Taka (Dh8,112) after she convinced her parents to mortgage their house.

She arrived at the Dubai International Airport in November last year and was received by a man, a suspect at large.

He took her to a flat in Naif where he raped her, robbing her of her virginity. She found women there who worked as prostitutes willingly. Her documents and mobile phone were taken away from her and she was locked up and forced to have sex with men for money, which was collected by the defendants. She worked for more than four months before the police rescued her. A police major said they raided the flat after being informed about a woman who was being forced into prostitution.

An undercover police corporal, along with a police informer, entered the flat posing as a customer and was allowed in only after talking to the watchman on trial.

The corporal paid Dh150 claiming he wanted to have sex with the victim. He spoke to her in private and she told him that she was forced to work as a prostitute and was being held up in the apartment against her will. The police, shortly, raided the flat and arrested the defendants.

mary@khaleejtimes.com