VIJAYAWADA: The city police on Tuesday rescued three girls, including two minors, who were being forced into flesh trade, and arrested four persons, including two women, on the charge of kidnapping the girls and forcing them into prostitution.

The arrested were: Mallem Jyothi, 32, of Uppal, M. Mallareddy, 43, of Ramanthapur in Hyderabad, Sk. Salma, 30, of K.L. Rao Nagar and T. Ramesh Babu, 35, of Chittinagar in the city.

Giving the details to mediapersons, Police Commissioner C.V. Anand said that the police would, henceforth, open history sheets against traffickers also.

A tab would be kept on the movements of brokers and pimps. An awareness campaign against trafficking would also be launched by the police.

School dropouts

Mr. Anand said that the Anti-Goonda Squad of the city police nabbed the four near Tarapet terminal of the railway station in the evening and rescued the girls.

Investigation revealed that they offered jobs to the girls who were school dropouts from slums, and asked them to leave their homes without informing their parents.

On their way to railway station, the girls were told that they would have to solicit customers on the Necklace Road in Hyderabad.

Mr. Anand said that Jyothi and Ranga Reddy tried to take the three girls to Hyderabad with the help of Ramesh Babu, a petty vendor, and Salma, a housewife.

The girls were handed over to Jyothi for a commission of Rs. 500 for each girl, the Commissioner said.

Cases were registered under Section 5 of the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act, Section 420 (cheating), Section 365 (kidnap) and Section 372 (kidnap of minor girls) of the IPC.

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