Pune: Less than 10 days after the police rescued 57 girls from brothels in Budhwar Peth on January 14, about 25 girls escaped from the shelters where they were put up.
In the first incident, 17 girls fled between January 22 to 24 from the Mother Teresa Home in Wanowrie; six of them were later traced. As if this was not embarrassing enough for the police, another batch of eight girls recently fled from the Dr Jagtap Trust in Katraj.
The police had rescued these girls from Budhwar Peth alleging they were minors and had been forced into prostitution. However, social workers working in Budhwar Peth, said that brothel owners and insiders reported that only pretty girls were picked up during the raids.
"We think that something fishy is going on. Why are so many girls going missing despite the heavy security at shelters? Why are the police or women and child welfare department not taking action against such organisations for their lax attitude," asked an NGO worker from Budhwar Peth.
Police Inspector Vyankat Gangalwad of Faraskhana police station said that girls had escaped from shelter home on two occasions.
"Our role is to conduct raids based on tip-offs. We hand them over to the local NGOs appointed by the women and child development department. It is true girls have been escaping from these shelters repeatedly, though some have been traced," he said.
He said if these incidents kept repeating, then the women and child development department should take action against such shelter homes by cancelling their permissions.
However, just that the girls have gone missing is not reason enough for embarrassment. Medical reports of the girls have proved that not even half the girls rescued were minors and NGOs are alleging ulterior motives behind the raids.
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