‘Kiss of love’ Activist Rahul Pasupalan arrested in sex racket case
The Kerala Crime Branch on Wednesday detained noted anti-moral policing activist Rahul Pashupalan and his partner and model, Reshmi R Nair, on the feeling of marketing and organizing commercial sex on the internet for rich clients.
Officials said the arrests were portion of a month long undercover operation, code named ‘Operation Big Daddy’, started in October. The investigation initially focussed on an escort service pop-up advertisement that appeared online.
It soon enlarged in range and collected pace resulting in the arrest of many men, mainly alleged procurers, before two months. The girls detained within the operation were treated as victims of human trafficking, advised and reunited with their loved ones.
Investigators harnessed to the internet sex trafficking network by introducing as well heeled clients with specific settings. They received pictures of “escorts” as encrypted messages (mainly WhatsApp) on their mobile phones. The age of the girls, the duration and nature of the service they were required to offer determined their cost.
On Tuesday night, the Crime Branch arrested four girls the suspected procurers had supposedly flown in from Bangalore to pair off using their customers in Kochi. The complete information on the case are yet to appear. The authorities haven’t yet made public what was the trail of evidence that led them to Mr. Rahul. Now the suspects, including one Akbar of Kasargode, were in police detention in Thiruvananthapuram.
The arrest of Rahul has caused a ripple in the social media. Many opined they considered that Rahul was the latest casualty of the big brother approach of the State. Rahul and his own wife had shot to fame in November last when they become the symbols of a massive movement against perceived moral policing inclinations in society.
The “Kiss of Love” movement, as it came to be understood, sharply divided public opinion on the obvious physical manifestation of love among willing partners. It drove hundreds to the roads for and against such independence generally taken for granted in developed democracies.