HYDERABAD: The dark underbelly of poverty reared its ugly head yet again when 11 girls, among whom four victims are less than seven years of age, were rescued by
Rachakonda police on Tuesday after a raid on eight brothels in
Ganesh Nagar Colony in Yadagirigutta, 55 km from here.
While police shifted the rescued girls to a state-run rescue home, they are verifying if the girls have been injected with hormones to attain early maturity. This fear cropped up in the wake of reports that the accused administer hormonal injections into minor girls belonging to poverty stricken families so that they can be trafficked or sent to brothels. Police, who took eight traffickers of a single family into custody, are also yet to confirm if the girls have been sexually abused.
“A victim, who was thrashed by one of the traffickers, Kamsani Kalyani, 25, must have managed to dial the child helpline to seek help,” said police sources. Commissioner of police, Rachakonda, Mahesh Bhagwat said that it’s a wellknit racket of traffickers who take advantage of the poverty of the girls, pick them up from various districts of Telangana and keep them in the brothels before pushing them into flesh trade.
Talking tough, he said: “We will initiate PD Act against the eight traffickers and close their brothels under Section 133 of CrPC.”
The traffickers have been identified as Kalyani, Kamsani Anitha, 30, Kamsani Susheela, 60, Kamsani Narasimha, 23, Kamsani Shruthi, 25, Kamsani
Saritha, 50, Kamsani Vani, 28, and Kamsani Vamshi, 20, all residents of Ganesh Nagar Colony.
Bhagwat said the girls are procured through mediators — Krishna Shankar and Kamsani Yadagiri — by paying Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh for each girl. “Recently, we had invoked the PD Act again st five repeated traffickers to curb this menace and sealed 68 brothels under the Rachakonda commissionerate,” he said.
Top sources said one Dr Swamy came under police radar after it was found that he had administered hormones so that the minors could mature early. Dr Swamy, who charges Rs 25,000 towards his fees, is absconding. “We have come across such cases before. However, the 11 girls, who have been rescued, may have escaped the ordeal as they were rescued before the injections were administered to them. We can confirm once the medical reports are out,” said a police source.
All the eight accused have been booked under sections 366-A (procuration of minor girl), 371(1)(v) (habitual dealing in slaves), 376 (rape) read with 114 (abettor present when offence is committed), 372 (selling minor for purposes of prostitution), 373 (buying minor for purposes of prostitution) and 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) of IPC.
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