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The ugly face of cyber world

Whether technology is a boon or bane is a debatable issue. Ever since the inception of the internet, the web world has caught the imagination of people all over the globe. With the ever-increasing number of users, the number of cyber crime has also gone up, and flesh traders have not shied away from using this mode of communication.

Jitendra Sharma

Whether technology is a boon or bane is a debatable issue. Ever since the inception of the internet, the web world has caught the imagination of people all over the globe. With the ever-increasing number of users, the number of cyber crime has also gone up, and flesh traders have not shied away from using this mode of communication. Gone are the days when prostitution used to happen behind doors. The internet has done away with mediators like pimps, who used to take the lion’s share of a prostitutes’ earnings. Now, the interested girls are targeting the youths directly through e-mails and online chat services.

Their motive, especially of women from abroad, is to have one to one interaction, so as to get an entry into India by making a personal bond. The e-mails from these girls carry their personal information including their photographs, contact no, e-mail address and bank accounts (where travelling expenses can be transferred).

They get into India as a friend of an Indian on a tourist visa. Once they land in India they enter into flesh trade. The Indian men, who prefer them to their Indian counterparts, are ready to shell out any price to sleep with them. The girls, being aware of this fact, charge them heftily. As the Indian economy is booms, the flesh trade is also raking in big moolah. The figures of this business are astounding and reported to be in millions of dollars.

These girls are from countries like Russia and Ukraine among others; as the economies of these nations are struggling to get back on track. The girls are getting into prostitution to earn easy money and live a lavish life. Even if they are caught, they get a very nominal punishment after which they continue with their activities. Recently, sex rackets have been exposed in cities like Delhi, Pushkar, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Goa, Kolkata, Chennai, Banglore and others. The girls in these rackets were of foreign origin and were staying on a tourist visa.

The modus operandi of all these rackets was more or less the same. They were all being run through beauty parlours and were being advertised through surrogate advertisements of beauty & massage parlours and friendship & dating clubs.

“It looks impossible to stop them from coming to India…they come through personal contacts they make in India, which is not a crime. These sex rackets are being run like a drug racket, as the investigation after reaching a point goes blank. We fail to get to the other end of the crime,” says former Joint CP, Delhi Police, Amod Kanth.Though cyber laws have been in the law books for a long time, like all other laws they are not being implemented properly, and the wrong doers get away taking advantage of the loopholes in the laws.

Adaptation by: Abhishek