(Thanks TOI) It is evening and an uneasy calm envelopes a remote corner of Jahanuma area of the Old City. Attached to an old haveli here is a horse stable which has been converted into several single-room accommodations. Some of these rooms are rented out to the poor at throwaway rates but has men and women moving in and out in a hush-hush manner.
A pan dabbawala, located a few metres away, gives directions to those making enquiries about the makeshift brothel, even as he simultaneously takes fresh bookings on his mobile. As it gets darker, the number of men frequenting this area swells.
Within a five km distance, at Habeeb colony in Vattepally, a densely populated slum pocket of the Old City, three members of a family are running four brothels that surround a government school. Both locals and social activists inform that similar brothels are functioning in Hassan Nagar, Nawab Sahab Kunta, Hafiz Baba Nagar, Amanagar, Kishanbagh and Bandlaguda where a chunk of the residents are migrants.
Observers say that even though the red light area of Hyderabad, Mehboob-ki-Mehendi, is history now, the flesh trade remains a thriving business here. The AP State Aids Control Society’s (APSACS) recent mapping of sex workers during 2010-11 pegs their number in the Old City to an estimated 5,000 of the total 20,000 sex workers operating in the GHMC jurisdiction. “It’s almost on the same lines like in other parts of the city,” says Kailash Aditya, joint director, targeted interventions, APSACS.
Brokers or pimps operating here rent a house in the slum localities and befriend gullible girls and single women who are later lured into the trade. Observers say that at least 15 per cent of these girls are minors and 30 per cent of them are below 20 years.
Rafia Nausheen, project coordinator, Mahita, an NGO, says that the brokers prefer interior areas and slums to hoodwink police. “Girls are shuffled between different areas. Prostitution is happening in houses. In Hassan Nagar, men openly solicit even young schoolgirls, luring them with a hundred or a fifty,” says Nausheen. The brokers are always on the lookout for young girls, she said.
With brokers exploiting these women by polishing off a considerable sum from each of their clients, few women have also formed small groups and are in direct touch with their customers.
Moghalpura inspector Syed Fayyaz told TOI that auto drivers also transport girls from the Old City to other parts of the city. “We arrested three auto drivers last year based on tip-offs. The soliciting doesn’t happen openly in the Old City like in other parts of Hyderabad but the women in the trade have increased,” says Fayyaz. He added that it is becoming difficult to nab the brokers. He further said that there is a probability that with the Arab marriages dipping drastically, girls from poor households are being forced into sex trade.
The area police and non governmental organizations working in this part of the city admit that the number of girls being lured into the trade has increased considerably in the last couple of years. A chunk of them are getting into prostitution to earn their livelihood, while others are doing it out of choice. In some cases parents are unaware, in others they keep quiet for want of money.
“It’s a widespread phenomenon. In a worrisome trend, even the middle class college girls are getting themselves involved and it is surprisingly not always because of poverty,” says Mazher Hussain, director, Cova.
Old-timers say that after Mehboob-ki-Mehendi, Hyderabad’s red light area located close to the High Court building was evacuated in 1996, the flesh trade has spread to various areas. Sources also said the girls are taken to the numerous beauty parlours and lodges where they are exploited. “Poor girls, widows and divorcees, often fall prey to the elements since they do not have skills and are also devoid of any support from the family members,” says a observer.
By: Bushra