HYDERABAD: A prominent social activist has flagged the online grooming and trafficking of minors on social media, but Hyderabad police say no cases involving girls being forced into prostitution have been reported.
What they do confirm is a disturbing pattern across the city — minors, some as young as 11, are being lured from their homes through social media and online gaming platforms, and in some cases sexually assaulted and blackmailed. Police say parental negligence and unrestricted access to social media lie at the heart of many such cases.
Investigators said several victims were persuaded to travel to other cities or states after befriending strangers online. In many instances, however, police tracked them before they reached their destinations and reunited them with their families.
On Tuesday, Padma Shri awardee and anti-human trafficking activist Sunitha Krishnan posted on X: “Extremely disturbing to see the number of teenagers from Old City of Hyderabad being groomed on Instagram and lured into prostitution. The age profile of the victims is 11-13 years. This is scary and needs urgent intervention. A large campaign about social media use in the communities, especially with men and boys, is the need of the hour”.
A senior Hyderabad police official, however, clarified that no cases involving girls being lured into prostitution had been reported. However, police said the growing concern was online grooming, where minors are manipulated into leaving home and becoming vulnerable to exploitation.
Speaking to TNIE, Hyderabad Commissioner of Police (CP) VC Sajjanar said investigations into the recent spate of missing minor girls had exposed a worrying trend of parental neglect. “While technology is advancing rapidly, our traditional family structure is silently eroding. We have moved from joint families to nuclear families and, increasingly, to single-parent households, leaving parents with very little quality time to spend with their children,” he said.
Sajjanar stressed that parenting extends far beyond providing for a child. “Responsibility begins with understanding what children are doing, who they are spending time with and how their behaviour is changing. Today, many parents are unaware of these basic aspects of their children’s lives. This lack of oversight is dangerous and must end immediately,” he said.
He urged parents to actively monitor their children’s use of Instagram, gaming platforms and other social media applications, saying greater awareness at home remains the first line of defence against online grooming and child exploitation.
Many cases reported
Officials cited several such cases reported recently. In one incident, three girls from Mailardevpally left home and boarded a train after being reprimanded by their parents over trivial issues. Police registered a missing case, traced the girls and rescued them. In another case, three minor girls from Domalguda went missing after being reprimanded by their parents. They were later traced and rescued by police.
In the last week of June, three minor sisters from Falaknuma allegedly left home after being lured by a person they met while playing an online game. According to police, the girls, who were addicted to online gaming, had been reprimanded by their mother. They later told an online acquaintance about the restrictions at home, following which he allegedly invited them to Kolkata, promising they could play games freely without interference.
After their mother lodged a missing complaint at the Falaknuma police station, investigators used technical evidence to trace the girls and alerted the Railway Police and Andhra Pradesh Police. The sisters were intercepted during their journey and safely reunited with their family.
Police said these were not isolated incidents. Several similar cases have been registered, particularly in the Jubilee Hills police limits, where accused allegedly identified affluent minor girls through Instagram, gradually gained their trust and lured them to different locations. Investigators said some victims were sexually assaulted, while their private photographs and videos were allegedly used to blackmail them and their families. Several accused have been arrested, and courts have denied bail to some of them.