CHENNAI: A 24-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly forcing two minor girls into prostitution in the suburbs of North Chennai. When the police rescued the girls one of them, aged 17, was found to be seven-months pregnant.
Police said the main accused in the case is one Indu, 24. She had allegedly befriended the girl in 2017, then aged 15, when she was standing at a bus stop in the city and crying. The victim's mother had died and her father is believed to have abandoned her. Taking advantage of her situation, Indu offered to help her find a job.
"The accused brought the victim to her house and later forced her into flesh trade and now the girl is seven months pregnant. Most of the men who visit the place have criminal cases including chain snatching, robbery cases against them. Six months ago, one of the chain snatching suspects from the same locality, had promised a 15-year-old girl that he would marry her. He allegedly kidnapped and brought the minor girl to Indu. The victim took refuge in Indu's house and was later forced into trafficking," said the police officer.
The police got wind of this from a robbery suspect they recently arrested. A police team raided Indu's house on Monday and rescued the two minor girls, besides a few adult women.
Police said Indu accommodated all the women in her house and they would be sent to hotels and other houses to meet their clients. Police have rescued the minor girls and have admitted them in a children's home while the women in the house managed to escape.
Police have launched a hunt for the men who had visited the house and raped the minor girls. In a similar incident, on July 11, three women were arrested in Chennai after a 16-year-old girl complained that she was locked up and gang-raped by five men.