16 rescued women flee shelter, police search on

Sixteen women, who had been rescued under PITA (The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act) last year, escaped from the Kasturba Rescue Home in Chembur on Saturday night. A case has been registered at the Chembur police station and the police is searching for them.

Police officials said that at around 8.30pm on July 2, all 16 women who had been rehabilitated at Kasturba Rescue Home six months ago, escaped by breaking the window of a toilet on the ground floor.

“The women had been rescued during police raids on spas at Chembur, Rabale and D.B. Marg. However, they all decided to flee the Kasturba Rescue Home two weeks ago. They had made a proper plan for it, according to a woman at the same home,” said a police official.

“A few months ago, two women had fled the home and these women decided to do the same. We are investigating the reason behind their act. They stole a bucket from the toilet two days before and then, on the day they planned to escape, they used the bucket to stand on and escape from the broken window,” said sub inspector Sunil Shinde, Chembur police.

DCP Shahaji Umap said that the escaped women had been booked for obstruction to lawful apprehension under the IPC and had not yet been traced. He said they had formed a team to trace them.

Last November, the Bombay high court ordered filing a FIR against the superintendent and caretaker of a state-run women’s shelter in suburban Mankhurd for allegedly harassing inmates. Eight women have escaped from there even as efforts are on to trace them. Chembur police is finding out if the Kasturba escape is in the same category.