Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Monday busted a sex racket operating in uptown Srinagar by arresting eight accused including four sex workers in the case, officials said. The arrests have caused a rage in the valley given the ongoing holy month of Ramadhan. A spokesman of the Srinagar Police said that police busted the racket operating in a rented accommodation in Bagh-e-Mehtab area of uptown Srinagar.
The rented house was raided by a special team of police from Police Station Chanapora, which is around a kilometer away from the spot, following specific inputs, police said. During the subsequent raids on the house, eight accused including four sex workers and two customers-all six residents of Srinagar- were arrested by the police.
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A police spokesman said that the racket was run by two accused identified as Irshad A Bhat, son of Shaban Bhat, a resident of Kadalbal Pampore in south Kashmir's Pulwama district and Mohd Shafi Hajam, son of Abdul Qayoom Hajam, a resident of Karim Abad, also in Pulwama district. Both the persons were arrested on spot even as four sex workers and two customers were also detained for questioning, police said.
As per the police spokesman, the whole racket was run from a rented house owned by one Altaf Hussain Afaqi, son of Asadullah Afaqi, a resident of Chanapora. FIR NO.19/2023 under sections 3,4,8 of Immortal Trafficking Act has been registered at Chanpura Police Station, police said. Further, as the house owner had not done tenant verification of the tenants, he will also be booked, it added.
Police urged citizens to do tenant verification if they have given their houses/rooms/shops on rent. The busting of the sex racket in the valley comes in the middle of the ongoing holy month of Ramadhan during which Muslims fast from dawn to dusk and stay away from all forms of evil in order to attain self-restraint. Netizens expressed their rage on the development.
“It depicts where Kashmiris are heading. I was proud of my Kashmir, that we are far from these illicit things, but today when news came, I was shocked,” wrote a netizen on Twitter.
