THE HINDU
Date:25/02/2008
Andhra Pradesh - Khammam
D. Chandra Bhaskar Rao
A strong network operating from Vijayawada is said to be behind the trade
KHAMMAM: A nine-year-old girl, who went missing from a tribal village in Yellandu area surfaced at Chilakaluripet in some time ago after spending more than two long years in captivity of a gang, thanks to the initiative of a good Samaritan.
He was touched by the sordid ordeal she had gone through and the vile indignities she was subjected to by the people running a brothel at Narsaraopet. She was purchased by them for a sum of Rs 20,000 and used for attracting young clients. She was sold yet again for Rs 29,000 to another party indulged in flesh trade.
Initiative
A youth who visited her was moved by her plight and alerted the police and tribal organizations in a bid to set her free from the traffickers. The initiative taken by the NGO helped in restoring the girl to her parents in March last. But she found it difficult to stay in her village for long on account of the little acceptability in the tribal community.
The entire family, disturbed by the steady stream of visitors, deserted the village. The experience of the girl from Yellandu cannot be viewed as an isolated case. More than 6,000 tribal girls from the district were languishing in the brothels in different cities for years and nearly 30 per cent of them are under 15, according to a study conducted by an NGO- Gram Vikas.
More of such cases were reported in the Yallandu, Manuguru and Bhadrachalam. The girls from these areas were found in good number, whenever the red light area was raided in Maharashtra. Khammam is now identified as a source district for trafficking.
A network operating from Vijayawada is said to be behind the trade.
The girls from the region had a sizeable presence in the red light areas in Mumbai, Pune, Kaptur, Nagpur and other major cities.
Some girls were released from gangs in Wani in Maharashtra and 16 of them were accommodated in a shelter house in Sathupali, said Satyanarayana Reddy from Gram Vikas.
Out of 8,000 persons reported missing in the State in 2006, some 400 were children particularly girls and about 5.6 lakh women from the State were cursing their fate in 150 red light areas, according to N. Rammohan of the “Help” - another NGO working on the issue of trafficking. He wanted a wholehearted approach for rehabilitation of such girls