Citywide search on for 10 women who fled from Dwarka shelter home

Nnew delhi: The Delhi Police has launched a massive search operation across the Capital to trace as many as 10 women who fled from a shelter home they were being housed at after being rescued from a villa in GB Road — the city's red-light area. The police said the women were staying at a shelter home in Dwarka and had fled from there together.

Significantly, the police have said that there were two other women who had planned to flee from the shelter home with the others but were inured during their escape so stayed back.

As per a press statement released by Delhi Police, these 12 women were rescued from a villa in GB Road by a team of Kamla Market police station on March 13. A case was registered in the matter and all these women were housed in a shelter home in Dwarka based on directions of the Child Welfare Committee (East).

On May 24, all 12 women escaped by breaking an exhaust fan hole from the shelter home on the third floor of the building. Two of them sustained injuries and 10 succeeded in escaping.

In this incident, a case of kidnapping under Section 363 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered at Sector 23, Dwarka police station. To search for these women, an advertisement has been published in newspapers. All the escaped women are said to be in the age group of 20 to 26.

According to officials, in this kind of case, they follow a set of guidelines in which they have conducted searches at various places including railway stations, bus stands, and also the place from where they were rescued. "We are investigating the case. So far reason behind the escape is being probed. We have also given advertisements in print media so that they can get some clues about these girls," one official said.

The two women, who sustained injuries, told the police that they were not under any pressure from anyone but tried to flee as they did not wish to stay at the shelter home.

One official, who has been involved in different rescue operations, told Millennium Post that they have seen such cases in the past where women escape from shelter homes. "If they feel any kind of pressure, they will escape. They need quick rehabilitation so that they can send money back to their families," the official said.

He explained that the women usually have families that they support and a quick rehabilitation becomes necessary. Moreover, he noted that it only natural for adult women to flee the moment they felt their agency was being taken away.