MUMBAI, MAY 22: Sixteen-year-old Kakoli wanted to know why she was dragged out of her afternoon siesta and brought to the D B Marg police station. The police inspector told her they wanted to help her to be free from the hell-holes of Grant Road's brothels. But Kakoli saw no point.

Neither did over 100 other girls, including minors, who were `liberated' on Wednesday amid a well-publicised rescue mission led by former deputy municipal commissioner turned social crusader G R Khairnar on Wednesday. He had arrived on the scene without the police following a tip-off on kidnapped minors being forced into prostitution.

But he had a hard task convincing the rescued to go back home. He even promised to send them Rs 1,000 every fortnight to help their return to normal family life.

``Since I have lost my izzat (dignity), I want to stay here and make money out of it,'' said Kakoli bluntly. She was raped in Calcutta by a man in the family for whom she worked as a domestic help.

Even adults like 20-year-old Manisha Gauda and 35-year-old Sumitra Das said they came into this dhanda in Mumbai on their own to fend for themselves and their children. Poverty, loss of families, and desertion were some of their reasons. However, Khairnar dismissed them as ``cosmetic replies'' tutored by the brothel owners.

But beyond such dismissal and promises of a safe return home, Khairnar confessed he had little to offer. He had no programme for the long process of their rehabilitation.

Till going to press, reports from D B Marg police station, where the girls were being questioned since 6 p.m. by Khairnar and activists of another social organisation, Manav Jyot, not a single girl had agreed to return home or town.

Khairnar himself admitted that last year only nine out of 350 girls reached their homes after their rescue. However, reports revealed that 18 out of 466 rescued girls escaped while 14 were forcibly made to go through their pregnancy. The rest headed for rehabilitation centres in Pune, Satara, Kathmandu, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.