A report on Mail Today, on Jan. 28, 2008 (Monday), “Druglords prey on N-E girls to act as peddlers”, has evoked widespread criticism from different corners of India’s northeast… and I question the intention of the writer Kumar Vikram for having generalized perceptions and highlighting “northeast girls” in bad light in his story without facts and figures ?
The original story can be read below this blog and also on Mail Today website:
http://mailtoday.in/epapermain.aspx?queryed=9&querypage=4&boxid=275671144&parentid=2129&eddate=01/28/08#
The story by Mr. Kumar Vikram does not tell us about any evidence of involvement of any northeast girl in drug peddling in the national capital. The officers he has quoted also do not confirm this.
Well, can I question the seriousness of Vikram’s journalistic ethics?
As a journalist, another opinion that comes to my mind is that “Are we not dividing India on ethnic lines through such writings?”
In the story, DCP (narcotics) A.S. Cheema has been quoted as saying: “The association between the peddlers and the girls acting as middlemen is a recent one, something that we came to know during investigations.”
If DCP Cheema’s quote it to be taken into account, then one must understand that the mere association between peddlers and girls does not bring girls from India’s northeastern states in picture. And if at all, DCP Cheema is referring to ‘northeast girls’ then it should not mean that one should generalize the viewpoint.
Vikram concluded his story: “….And the person ringing the bell, in all probability, will be a Northeastern girl”. I wish Mr. Vikram gets a chance to visit the mesmerizing land of India’s northeast and enjoy the hospitality, which won’t be drugs and sex for sure, when he rings a door-bell there.
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Here is the original story published in Mail Today….
Druglords prey on N-E girls to act as peddlers
Jan. 28, 2008 (Monday) <<By Kumar Vikram in New Delhi
The next time a cocaine addict in Delhi orders for a fix, it’s unlikely that an African man will be standing at the door. Instead, it’ll probably be a young, trendy Northeast Indian girl. And for a few extra thousands, she’ll put sex on offer as well.
This revelation about the illegal drug trade came to light last year, during the court hearing of a Nigerian peddler. A police officer said, “Our investigating officers were surprised to find that many Northeastern girls would attend the hearing at the Patiala Court House. We decided to probe further.” And the skeletons came tumbling out.
Where the girls score over the men is that they can offer customers a combo-pack – sex and drugs.
The nexus works like this: the client calls the peddler (usually African) for cocaine; the peddler gives the stuff to the girl; she delivers it to the designated place, which is usually a farmhouse or five-star hotel; and if the customer is willing and has the money, the girl throws in sex as an added offer.
“The clients are high-end and as a result, the girls earn much more than they would earlier,” the officer said. Rates can vary from anything between Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 for a few hours of intoxication and intercourse.
The genesis of the trend, say sources, lies in the Rahul Mahajan case. The arrest of two Nigerian nationals put the spotlight on their counterparts and, suddenly, African nationals roaming around in, say, a shopping complex were viewed with suspicion by even common people, let alone the police. There were several raids conducted across the city, at the end of which eight Nigerians ended up in prison. Customs officials at the Indira Gandhi International Airport pulled up their socks too and at the end of 2007, the total toll of picked-up Africans numbered 70.
Enter the Northeastern girl, her age between 22 and 30.
This entry, though, was quite a logical fallout of things. Most of the Nigerians peddlers were centred around the Munirka area in southwest Delhi, which has a large population of northeastern girls too. As an officer said, “Most of these girls are call centre employees open to the idea of earning extra money. And the suspected peddlers were ready to lend a help-ing hand.”
But the trend is still very new. “The association between the peddlers and the girls acting as middlemen is a recent one, something that we came to know during investigations,” said DCP (narcotics) A.S. Cheema.
Something else that has come to light is that there is an increasing interest in heroin among the customers. Afghanistan is home to heroine of superior quality, which initially reaches Pakistan. The next stop on the trail is usually Punjab or Rajasthan.
Thereafter, it’s a snatch for the peddler to smuggle the drug into Delhi and to the addict’s place of choice. This would earlier be pubs or lower-end hotels in the city. But post-Rahul Mahajan, such places have become dicey for the peddlers. So now, it’s usually a five-star hotel or a nondescript farmhouse.
And the person ringing the bell, in all probability, will be a Northeastern girl.>>
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“Behave like Mumbaikars”, taunted the activists of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led by chief Raj Thackeray, as they launched a crusade in Mumbai against migrant labourers from north India last week. 
“The pursuit of optimism” between you & me 
Gaurav Shrivastava
