Six women escape from rehabilitation home in Pendurthi

Visakhapatnam: Six women escaped from a Swadhar Home in Pendurthi on Thursday, marking the second escape incident this month from the rehabilitation facility. Five of the women were victims in an Interstate Trafficking in Persons (ITP) case, while one was involved in a separate case, according to local police.

Pendurthi Circle Inspector Maradana Srinivasa Rao said the women, who hailed from West Bengal, Rajasthan, Mumbai, and other states, orchestrated their escape while the warden was preparing a meal. Two unidentified men reportedly restrained the warden, holding her hands behind her back, before using pepper spray to incapacitate her. The assailants then accessed the facility's locks, enabling the women to flee.

Prior to their escape, the perpetrators disabled the facility's CCTV cameras by cutting the wires. This incident follows another recent escape, where a Bangladeshi woman involved in an ITP case fled the facility just a week earlier on October 22.

CI Srinivasa Rao explained that the women were placed in the Swadhar Home under court orders for counselling and rehabilitation. "The standard procedure is that families can request their release through a court memo, after which the court may issue release orders," he said. Police have registered a case at Pendurthi Police Station and investigations are ongoing.