Like every other country in the world, India loves to portray itself as the emblem for strength, unity, peace, truth and fertility. And it has every right to do so because of how it’s prospering in various fields, nationally and internationally. However, there’s a dark underbelly to India that remains uncharted, undocumented and it’s eating away at our core with every passing second. A harrowing example of that is the sex racket that was uncovered in Telangana.
According to Hindustan Times, Rakchonda police commissioner Mahesh Bhagawat said that the Telangana police had received a tip-off from a local of Yadagirigutta. Based on that the police raided the house of Kamsani Kalyani to find the bone-chilling truth.
The local resident of Yadagirigutta had heard the cries of a girl from one of the brothels and had informed the police. They arrived there with SHE teams, Special Operations Team and officials from Integrated Child Development Scheme and found two girls. One of them was Kalyani’s own daughter and the other girl was bought from the child traffickers.
Kalyani was questioned and the police got the location of five other houses. On raiding them, they rescued 11 girls, including four seven-year-olds. The police said that the children were given hormonal injections by Dr. Swamy so that they could attain puberty earlier and be pushed into the flesh trade. Bhagawat said that the doctor charged ₹ 25,000 for each injection.
On further investigation, the police found that the girls were physically tortured and were not given enough food whenever they would defy the brothel owners. Bhagawat said,
“They were kept in confinement and the accused were running the flesh trade for around four years. After proper inquiry, PD Act will be initiated against all the accused persons, apart from closing their houses.”
The police revealed the identities of the accused: Kamsani Kalyani, Kamsani Anitha, Kamsani Susheela, Kamsani Narsimha, Kamsani Sruthi, Kamsani Saritha, Kamsani Vani and Kamsani Vamshi. Bhagawat added that the trafficker would buy these children from Krishna Shankar and Kamsani Yadagiri for amounts up to ₹ 2 lakh each. The rest were kidnapped from railway stations, bus stations and other public places.
Given the grievousness of the crime, the accused were penalised heavily. In a statement to the press, Bhagawat said that,
“They were booked under Section 17 (Abetment) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act besides relevant sections of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (ITPA).”
The accused were also slapped with charges under Sections 366A (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), 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
According to official data, around 55,000 children were abducted and 8000 cases of human trafficking were reported in India in 2016. And those are just the ones that we’re getting to know about. There must be thousands more that are going unchecked. So, although there’s a lot to be done to stop this menace, the Telangana police should lauded for rescuing these lives and giving them a future.