Police Raid Two Spa Centres In Assam S Silchar Arrest 28 Women

Police raided two spa centres (massage parlours) in Assam’s Silchar on Thursday night and arrested 28 women, officials said.

Police teams raided Lovely Spa and Lotus Spa, located on the top floor of a mall on Club Road in Silchar, on Thursday night. “We picked up 21 women from Lovely Spa and seven from Lotus Spa, but there were more people inside who managed to flee. We have collected the registration books and will identify more people as the investigation progresses,” an official said.

Police said the owners of the two spa centres are currently absconding.

“We were informed about alleged prostitution and similar illegal activities in some spa centres and, during the operation at two such centres on Thursday, we recovered substantial evidence establishing the allegations to be true,” Cachar Additional Superintendent of Police (Crime) Rajat Pal said.

Pal said most of the arrested women are not locals, and police suspect a possible interstate human trafficking racket behind the operation.

“As per the documents they have shown us, many are from Jorhat, Sonitpur, Kamrup and surrounding areas, while two are from Dimapur in Nagaland. We are not ruling out the possibility of an interstate trafficking racket,” he said.

However, Pal added that not everyone who visited the spa centres would be treated as being involved in prostitution or trafficking, as many could be genuine customers.

The women were arrested under Sections 318(4) (cheating), 296 (obscene acts in public places), 132 (assaulting or using criminal force against a public servant while discharging official duty), 270 (public nuisance) and 112(2) (petty organised crime) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Additionally, charges under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, including Sections 3 (keeping or managing a brothel), 4 (living on the earnings of prostitution), 7 (prostitution in or near a public place) and 8 (soliciting for prostitution), were invoked against them and the owners of the two spa centres.

“We arrested them after registering a case at Silchar Sadar Police Station. All of them were produced before a district court, and police sought their custodial remand,” Pal said.