The use of fake Aadhaar cards in Nagpur’s red-light areas has emerged as a major enabler of sex trafficking, particularly involving minors. Recent rescue operations by the Nagpur Police and the Social Security Branch (SSB) of the Crime Branch have revealed how traffickers manipulate identity and age details on forged Aadhaar documents to exploit underage girls and mislead authorities.
Earlier this month, a raid at Hotel Paradise on Central Avenue led to the rescue of a woman from Uzbekistan. Despite being a foreign national, she was found in possession of an Aadhaar card — raising serious questions about how traffickers are misusing India’s official identity system.
Just days later, SSB officials rescued eight women — including five minors — from the Ganga Jamuna red-light area. All the victims were reportedly trafficked from Rajasthan and were found with Aadhaar cards showing them as adults, thereby excluding them from the legal protection offered to minors under anti-trafficking laws.
Investigators said traffickers are consistently using forged Aadhaar cards to alter both the age and origin of victims. Cases have been reported where girls from West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and even nearby districts like Chandrapur, Wardha, and Gondia were presented as adults through falsified documents.
Officials further revealed that traffickers often administer steroids to minor girls to make them appear physically mature, thereby complicating the process of age verification during rescue operations.
One of the most shocking cases came to light in 2021 when a seven-year-old girl was kidnapped from Madhya Pradesh. By the time she turned 10, she had been sold multiple times and pushed into the sex trade. She was finally rescued from Ganga Jamuna at the age of 14. However, due to her physical appearance — altered by steroids and grooming — even police initially mistook her for an adult. Investigations later revealed she had been sold for ₹22 lakh.
Nagpur, once considered a transit point for trafficking, has now become a grooming and destination hub. Victims are often brought to the city for conditioning and are later shifted to metros like Mumbai and Delhi or to other trafficking hotspots in Rajasthan.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Mahak Swami, who led several rescue operations in Ganga Jamuna during her tenure as Zone 3 chief, confirmed the recurring use of fake Aadhaar cards. “We have come across multiple cases where minors were passed off as adults using forged Aadhaar documents. The misuse of this critical identification tool is extremely worrying,” she said.
She urged hoteliers, lodge owners, and property renters to verify Aadhaar details using the official ‘mAadhaar’ app or by scanning the QR codes printed on the cards. “Basic verification can prevent the exploitation of vulnerable individuals,” Swami added.
With trafficking cases on the rise, experts are calling for stricter Aadhaar issuance processes, enhanced biometric checks, and inter-state coordination to dismantle trafficking networks.
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