A 12-year-old girl from Bangladesh has been rescued from a prostitution ring in
India after she was raped by more than 200 men in just three months.
Officers said the girl's ordeal began when she failed a school subject and feared being beaten by her parents.
She ran away with the help of a woman she knew, who smuggled her across the border and sold her into the sex trade, according to police.
Police said she was first taken to Nadiad in Gujarat, where she was repeatedly abused.
Ten people have been arrested, but campaigners say the rescue is only the start.
She was freed on July 26 during a joint operation by the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Mira-Bhayandar Vasai-Virar police, working with NGOs Exodus Road India Foundation and Harmony Foundation.
'This girl has not even reached her teenage years, but her childhood has been stolen by such monsters in the flesh trade,' said Abraham Mathai, founder-chairman of the Harmony Foundation.
'Behind every such rescue is a child who wasn't heard; a child failed first by those meant to protect her, and then by a society that only reacts when it's too late.'
These figures do not take into account the incidents that happen in areas where reporting is not always seen as the best solution.
According to reports, victims and their families are often forced into silence by intimidation and a broken justice system.
In 2022, only 3% of cases involving child rape resulted in any conviction.