Visakhapatnam: Prostitution is on hike in Visakhapatnam where the teen age girls are turning to sex work in order support themselves and their families and in some villages, girls are sent into prostitution by their families.
According to the cops,the trade is being carried out through social networking sites including WhatsApp.
The customers pay the lump sum amount to the girls family in advance for a period of six months. According to the sources if the girl is paid Rs 50,000 for six months, the tout makes as much as Rs 5 lakh on each girl a month.
The guest houses and government tourist hotels had become the trade centers. According to police most of the teenaged girls involved in the trade are from poor families. One of the senior police officer in the city said.”Vizag is witnessing sexual exploitation in the name of beauty parlours, cross-gender massaging and other methods.”
ACP I Chitti Babu, said Task Force cops last year raided 20 premises and arrested 50 persons. This year city task force personnel arrested 65 persons and rescued 41 women and girls. They seized 1.26 lakh cash in 22 cases. Most cases were registered in the month of May in which 23 persons were arrested and 11 females rescued.
Many girls rescued by the cops are from the two Godavari districts, Krishna, Guntur and from the Telangana region. Girls from Odisha, West Bengal and Maharashtra too figure among the victims, the sources said.
The cops are now sealing the premises where the racket is found to take place. Six properties were seized in the city till date.