Child prostitution: The dark side of Telangana's temple town

It was in the end July that a girl child’s scream and a concerned neighbour’s call to the child helpline lifted the lid on the gory saga of a child sex racket in the temple town of Yadadri. The eight-year old girl Manjula (name changed) who was coerced to witness sexual acts of adults during night time was forced to complete household chores during day. The tired girl was punished with a hot spatula for not obeying the commands of her pseudo mother Kamsani Kalyani.

Upon questioning by the police, Kalyani spilled beans that the girl was not her child but was procured from a pimp Kamsani Shankar and was groomed into the flesh trade. The lady further revealed that young girls are generally taught tricks of the trade at an early stage of their lives. After investigation, the police have sealed 22 houses and arrested 30 people, including several women, on August 2, 2018. The police slapped cases under IPC sections 370A, 371 and 366, relevant sections of POCSO Act and the PD Act. Police hope conviction of at least 10 accused under the PD Act (Preventive Detention Act).

A registered medical practitioner (RMP) Venkat Reddy in the vicinity helped the mothers to transform the girls into women by pumping hormones. The doctor also helped the trade by illegally terminating pregnancies. The Anuradha Maternity Clinic in Ganesh Nagar of Yadadri is now being sealed and the doctor has been arrested under sections 420, 419 of IPC, Section 26 of Drugs and Cosmetics Act and Section 15 of the Indian Medical Council Act 1956.

Many ampoules of Oxytocin, referred as love hormone, were found in the clinic located close to the Yadadri Hill. Oxytocin is a hormone and a neurotransmitter that is involved in childbirth and breast-feeding. It is also associated with empathy, trust, sexual activity, and relationship-building. It is said that the love hormone shoots in blood during hugging and orgasm.

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