More alarmingly, say activists, the Pune-Mumbai flesh belt has taken to “treating” these girls with a course of growth hormones, both estrogen and testosterone, to promote abnormal breast development and enlargement of genital organs. Not only does this boost business, it also helps them escape the law by passing off minor girls as “majors” during police raids.

The girls are sourced from far and wide — Andhra Pradesh to Nepal and Bangladesh. Barely in their teens, they are given the hormones the same way as chemicals are used to ripen fruits.

Several girls with the Rescue Foundation, a Mumbai-based NGO that has now under its wings over 100 minors seized from brothels in Mumbai and Pune, testify to this.

Among those that the NGO stumbled upon in a Pune brothel on January 3 but failed to rescue were two sisters originally from Bhutan, 15 and 17. The girls were later rescued from a brothel in Delhi’s G B Road.

“I was given tablets daily along with milk at two Pune brothels over 18 demeaning months. I was told it was for stamina. But what actually happened was that my body began to grow. My sister also underwent abnormal body growth. She started getting facial hair. Both of us now look much older than we are,” says the elder sister.

She adds that when the two fell into the hands of agents two years ago in Nepal, they were studying in Classes VII and VIII. Now they have filed a case against their exploiters.

Rescue Foundation president Triveni Acharya admits that they are increasingly coming across cases of growth hormones being given to minor girls.

“We are opening a transit shelter in Pune next month given the increasing number of minors being rescued from there. Clearly, the focus of minor girl trafficking has shifted to Pune, given the demand for ‘fresh’ girls from the growing young clientele,” says Acharya.

Among the victims is a Mumbai girl, who will appear for her Class X exams next month and who was barely 14 when she was pushed into the flesh trade.

“I was given injections and tablets for nine months. By the time I was rescued, my body weight had gone up from 40 kg to 60 kg. I gained weight mostly around my hips and chest. My voice also sounds deeper, like a man’s voice now,” she says. She too has filed a case with the Mumbai police against her traffickers.

Dr Arun Phadnis, former president of the Pune Obstetric and Gynaecological Society, says the combination of estrogen and testosterone has several side effects and may even prove lethal.

Some 20 years back, the combination, available as Mixogen, was used in cases of severe uterine bleeding and bleeding due to fibroid uterus. But even this is now banned.

“It is shocking to hear that some doctors are still using it,” says Phadnis. “It calls for severe disciplinary action.”

The Pune police, however, say they are not aware of this new “trend” in exploitation of minor girls. “This is the first time I’m hearing of it. We’ll look into it,” says Inspector at Faraskhana police station V T Pawar.

Quite unlike them, the Andhra Pradesh police say they are aware of the development. “Many victims from Andhra have told us that they were given tablets — mostly estrogen — to fasten onset of puberty,” says Sumita Badugula, Superintendent of Police, Andhra CID.

Activists add that the use of growth hormones shouldn’t come as such a surprise as transvestites have been using them for years. “It’s a market-driven development that transvestites are giving way to minor girls as clients for hormone therapy,” says Tejaswi Sevekari, director of Saheli. She adds that they had had one such case referred to them.

With or without the hormones, the outlook isn’t good for Pune. S Umapathi, Inspector General of Women’s Protection Cell, Andhra Pradesh, says traffickers from the state have strong nexus with agents in Pune.

“Hundreds of girls aged between 10 and 13 from 25 talukas of three districts — Cudappah, Ananthpur and Chittoor — are being sold for Rs 30,000 each, going up to Rs 70,000, if they are from certain tribes like Lambada, for their beauty. While we have no clear figure, the fact that 122 such minors were rescued in 2007 is telling. A few hundred of these girls are in Pune brothels,” he says.