HYDERABAD: Eleven minor girls --all aged below 11 years-- were rescued from six different brothels in Yadagirigutta town and eight traffickers, including six women were arrested on Tuesday.
Acting on a tip-off from one of the girls, police, SHE teams, Special Operations Team and officials from Integrated Child Development Scheme raided six houses in Ganeshnagar in Yadagirigutta and rescued the minor girls. Police said these girls were being raised by the accused, to be eventually pushed into commercial flesh trade.
The minors were allegedly administered hormonal injections so they would attain puberty much faster. Rachakonda Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat said the traffickers bought the children from two agents Krishna Shankar and Kamsani Yadagiri, for amounts ranging up to Rs 2 lakh each.
Some of them were picked up from railway stations, bus stations and other public places also. He said the traffickers got the hormonal injections administered to the children by one Dr Swamy, for early puberty. For this, Dr Swamy charged Rs 25,000 per injection from the organisers.
The youngest of them is four-year-old and the eldest is 11-year-old and all of them had Aadhaar cards also. While the traffickers claimed that the children were their own and of their relatives, police on thorough questioning of the kids found that the traffickers often abused them physically and tortured them without giving proper food, if they refused to do what they said.
“The girls were kept in confinement and the accused were running the flesh trade for around four years. After proper enquiry, PD Act will be initiated against all the accused persons, apart from closing their houses,” the Commissioner said. The rescued children were handed over to Yadadri Child Welfare Committee and sent to a home.