A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court resuming the hearing on Yadadri child prostitution racket taken up as a PIL by the court following a DH reports, told Telangana government and the SIT to treat the case as top priority.
The bench comprising Chief Justice Thottathil B Radhakrishnan and Justice S V Bhatt also directed the government to present a comprehensive report on the modalities it would adopt to ensure no girl falls prey to flesh trade in the future.
The court also directed the Rachakonda police to place before it reports on the progress of the probe from time to time.
Hereafter, a woman police officer, an assistant commissioner of police of SHE Team in Rachakonda, would head the SIT.
Consenting to the Telangana's special government pleader S Sharath Kumar's proposal that SHE team was the right unit to probe the case, the high court directed the SIT to place before it progress reports as the petition would be heard every Tuesday.
.“We don't doubt your commitment but we're concerned how you are going to tackle and prevent it, ,” the chief justice told the police officers.
When Sharath Kumar explained to the bench that hormones were not administered by the accused to the victims in Yadadri case, the bench sought to know how the investigators arrived at the conclusion.
“What tests have you got conducted on the victims?” the chief justice asked. He suggested to the police to get the victims examined by endocrinologists to ascertain if hormones were administered on them.
The chief justice sought to know from doctor Rakesh Sahay, an endocrinologist of Osmania General Hospital, who appeared before the bench, if any such tests can be conducted.
The doctor replied that there were possibilities of finding traces of hormones in girls aged around eight to nine years but it would be difficult confirm it in the case of girls above 12 years of age.
The bench passed an order directing the police to provide security cover to the girls while being brought from Prajwala Home and Shishu vihar to the hospital for medical examination.
The Prajwala Home and Shishu Vihar authorities were also instructed not to allow visitors disturbing the right to privacy of the girls.
The bench instructed the police to present before it within 24 hours the list of cases registered, details of the accused in each case and how many of them secured bails and from which courts.