Calcutta, May 30: Rozi, 16, a resident of Jadavpur, was trafficked to Mumbai in December 2005 and sold off to a brothel. She was rescued by the the CID and brought back to the city, but her parents refused to take her back. She had no option but to return to the brothel.

Arti, 14, and Sweta, 15, residents of Dhakuria, were taken to Pune in October last year by three youths who promised them jobs. But the duo was sold to a brothel. The CID rescued them in January and called their parents to Bhabani Bhavan. The families took the girls with them after much persuasion, but abandoned them after a month.

There are many like Rozi, Arti and Sweta, who find no takers after being rescued from brothels in Mumbai, Pune and Delhi by the CID?s immoral trafficking wing. Officers said their parents refuse to take them back fearing ostracism.

Denied a refuge, the girls are forced to return to the red-light areas.

?It?s very sad. Parents refuse to accept their own daughters rescued from brothels. We do face problems rehabilitating such minor girls,? said CID deputy inspector general D.P. Tarania.

An officer of the immoral trafficking wing, who led a recent raid on a Mumbai brothel, said minor girls are the prime target of racketeers running flesh trades across the country.

?We rescued five minor girls in December. All of them were taken there by local agents who promised them jobs. We called their parents to reunite them with their families. Strangely, three families refused. They fell in line only after a two-hour counselling session. But after a month, we came to know that the girls fled home since they were treated as untouchables by their parents,? the officer recalled.

Police records reveal that of over 70 girls rescued from red-light areas in Mumbai, Delhi and Pune, around 30 were not accepted by their families.

The authorities have now decided to hand over such girls to NGOs or homes, where they stand a better chance of being rehabilitated.

Neelu Sherpa, a deputy superintendent of police in charge of the immoral trafficking section, said: ?Without proper rehabilitation, the entire effort of rescuing girls from brothels will go in vain. If a girl is an orphan or is not accepted by her family, we send her to a home run by an NGO.?