by Minhaj Masoodi
SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Police have detained a group of young women accused of indulging in a possible white leather racket. The detentions took place from a locality of the Srinagar bypass, in the Muslimabad area.
The detentions took place on the complaint of the residents of the locality, police and locals said.
The house where the alleged racketeers were lifted from was rented out to somebody only a few days back, residents said. It is located in a corner slightly away from other houses.
Locals said they witnessed an unusual rush in the last few days to the particular house and the activities were quite mysterious so they informed the police. The cops raided the place and detained the five women, they said.
Residents said the house belongs to a Shehr-e-Khas resident who had earlier rented it out to a doctor. “The doctor has constructed his own house and shifted there,” one resident said.”A new tenant has come only a few days back and then this tamasha was witnessed.”
“We received a tip-off from locals and we raided the site but we did not find anyone doing anything immoral,” an official from the police station said. “However, women have been arrested.”
“We are investigating the matter,” the official who picked up the phone said.
Another local said that the police raided the house on Wednesday afternoon after complaints by the residents.
Three of the five women arrested hail from Srinagar’s Nowgam, Hawal and Dalgate areas. The rest of the two are reportedly from Tral and Anantnag in south Kashmir.
Some reports during the day had claimed that the women detained from the house had been lodged in Women’s Police station Rambagh. When the Police station was contacted, they said they are not in the custody of any such female. “We don’t know anything about the case,” one official from the police station said. “The women have not been lodged here.”
Station Police Officer, Batamaloo, Sabzar Ahmad, confirmed the arrest of the women. However, he did not offer any detail. Police have registered an FIR under sections 3,4,5,7 of the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act in Police Station Batamaloo.
During the day, a neighbouring locality had protested over its name being bracketed in the alleged racket. They had visited the police station also and told the officials not to malign the locality that has nothing to do with the alleged incident.
