PESHAWAR, July 10: Child prostitution has been on the rise despite a vigil by law-enforcement personnel on notorious spots in and around the walled city of Peshawar, a senior police official said here.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (City) Chaudhry Ashraf said that a strict vigil by the police and the recent arrest of 26 persons had failed to root out this social evil from the city.

Earlier this week, Mr Ashraf led a police raid on three small hotels situated near Kabari Bazaar in Qissakhwani and arrested 14 young boys and 12 men who were reportedly engaged in immoral activities. The owner of one of the hotels was among those arrested.

But since the police had not caught the suspects red-handed and had no hard evidence against them, it was forced to book them under sections 109 and 107 of the Pakistan Penal Code, and not under clauses relevant to the offence of prostitution. A local court ordered the release of the suspects within 48 hours of their arrest.

“Unless the suspects were caught red-handed, they cannot be charged under section 377 PPC relating to unnatural offences,” the DSP City said. The maximum punishment for this offence is life imprisonment.

Small hotels often do not register the addresses of their guests and provide them only beds for a night’s stay, according to Mr Ashraf. “This probably helps to increase the incidence of child sex abuse,” he said.

Last Wednesday, the police held a meeting with the owners of small hotels in the walled city and requested them to start registering the addresses of prospective guests before providing them a room at their respective hotels and inns, Mr Ashraf said.

The hotel owners were also told to stop masseuse from visiting their premises as these men were often involved in unnatural offences, the official said.

He also disclosed that the police had conducted raids on one of the most notorious hotels in Hashtnagri area which, the DSP claimed, was the hub of child sex labour.

Mr Ashraf said that the police felt helpless as it could not arrest any one during the raids. “We have warned hotel owners against aiding this immoral activity,” he said.

Several residents of the walled city accused the managements of some schools for forcing their students into the child sex labour trade. They claimed that these small hotels and inns were used for such types of immoral activities.

Some of them identified the spots from where the people picked these children. They said that late in the evening, these boys could be found standing in front of cinema houses in Khyber bazaar area.

Others alleged that video arcades in Yakatoot area were places from where sex labourers were supplied.

Some months ago, the police on the complaints of the local hoteliers association stopped the Shabab-i-Milli wing of Jamaat-i-Islami from checking on small hotels and inns for immoral activities. However, the Shabab-i-Milli warned policemen that if didn’t take proper action against the hotels and the offenders it would continue to check on the small hotels and inns.