PMC demolishes brothel that cops wanted to seal

25/12/2017

PUNE: When Pune police commissioner Rashmi Shukla issued an order to seal a 'brothel' in an old building located in Budhwar Peth, a police team visited the spot to do the needful. Upon reaching the area, the team realized that the said brothel had been partially demolished in an anti-encroachment drive carried out by the Pune Municipal Corporation .

Shukla has come down heavily on places where women and minor girls were forced into flesh trade. Over the last two years, such locations have been regularly raided either by the Pune police's social security cell or the Faraskhana police. Locations, where rescue operations had to be conducted, were ordered to be sealed. On Saturday, a team from the Faraskhana police station visited the alleged brothel located at Navin Building in Budhwar Peth.

According to the police, the location had a wooden door and a couple of women were present on the premises. However, one of the walls of the structure had collapsed. Senior inspector Balkrishna Ambure of Faraskhana police station explained, "The police have all the orders in place to seal the brothel, which has been raided thrice in the last two years. We have also registered several cases against the brothel keeper for forcing women and minor girls into flesh trade." Now, Ambure pointed out, the police are unable to seal the property as it has been left open on two sides.

"The door is the third entry point. We are looking at possibilities on how to seal the brothel," the officer said. "It will be of no use to seal the brothel in such a condition. There is a huge opening in the one of the walls of the brothel. People can freely enter through the opening that cannot be blocked. However, we have realized that some section of the building has been encroached and PMC officials had demolished that portion of the building, thus re-construction of the premises is not possible," he said.

According to Ambure, PMC officers carried out the action a week ago. "We decided not to seal the brothel. Now, we will write to the PMC officials to demolish the entire illegal structure in a week or two," he said. Ambure added that a letter would be sent to concerned PMC officials on Wednesday.