A 12-year-old girl from Bangladesh has been rescued from a sex trafficking ring after being allegedly raped by 200 men in three months in India. The traumatic experience began, authorities say, when she failed a school subject and was scared of being beaten by her parents.

According to the police, the girl ran away from home with the help of a woman she knew, who then smuggled her across the border and sold her into a prostitution ring, and first taken to Nadiad in Gujarat. She was freed on July 26 during an operation run by the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Mira-Bhayandar Vasai-Virar police, in collaboration with NGOs Exodus Road India Foundation and Harmony Foundation. Ten people have been arrested. Abraham Mathai, founder-chairman of the Harmony Foundation said: "This girl has not even reached her teenage years, but her childhood has been stolen by such monsters in the flesh trade. 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."

Mr Mathai also warned that strict parenting can mean children find themselves in dangerous situations, MailOnline reported.

Police officers are working to uncover the entire trafficking network and protect vulnerable children, commissioner Niket Kaushik said.

Activist Madhu Shankar said that they often seen young girls begging in Vashi and Belapur, who are stolen as babies from villages, and then brought to cities to be exploited. 

The minors are handled by one or two elderly women who also "push them into prostitution", they claimed, even given hormonal injections "so that they attain puberty earlier".

UNICEF says that violence against children is "widespread and remains a harsh reality for millions of children from all socio-economic groups in India".

The organisation adds: "Both girls and boys in India face early marriage, domestic abuse, sexual violence, violence at home and in school, trafficking, online violence, child labour and bullying.

"All forms of violence, abuse and exploitation have lifelong consequences on children’s lives. 

"Exact data on violence, abuse and exploitation is not sufficient, but overall the nation is becoming increasingly aware of violence against children, especially sexual abuse.

"Several cases that may have earlier gone unnoticed, are now being reported."