YOUNG girls are being forced to work in Bangladesh's twisted brothels where they are beaten by cruel traffickers and fed steroids to look more womanly.

Kids like Rupa, who has been working in Kandipara, northern Bangladesh, since she was 11, have sex with up to a dozen grown men a day while local police turn a blind eye to the illegal act, according to a wide-ranging investigation by the Telegraph.

8 Girls as young as 11 are being forced to work in twisted brothels in Bangladesh. Here, underage sex worker Sonia puts on her makeup in her dimly lit room in Daulatdia so she'll look older for her clients Credit: Corbis - Getty

Around 400 women and children work in the same brothel, one of 20 legal ones across the country.

Rupa said she was locked in a room for three days after arriving at Kandipara and beaten mercilessly when she tried to leave.

The young girl was also fed Oradexon, a cow steroid, to force her body to "develop" quicker so she looked older.

Although such places and sex work are legal in the country, prostitutes are supposed to have State Magistrate-approved certificates to prove they are over 18.

8 Child prostitutes in Bangladesh are given Oradexon, a cow steroid, to make them 'develop' quicker. Rokeya takes one of the tablets at a brothel in Faridpur, 60 miles from the capital Dhaka Credit: AFP - Getty

8 Grown Bangladeshi men pay around £1.75 for ten minutes with underage girls like Bristi, who applies her own make-up at a brothel in Daulatdia. She is one of 2,000 prostitutes who work there Credit: Corbis - Getty

When Rupa went to the police to get her license, which they charge £87.50 for, she simply repeated what her madam had told her: "That I was 18 and happy to work in the brothel."

A recent survey of 375 sex workers, conducted by the Girls Not Brides charity, found almost half (47 per cent) were former child brides forced into prostitution.

They are understood to be locked up in squalid brothels where they are at risk of physical and psychological abuse, as well as contracting HIV, until they can buy their freedom.

Men often visit the brothels before they head to work, paying around £1.75 for ten minutes of the girl's time.

Rupa, now 19, told the Telegraph: "I get scared when the men start forcing me to do things I haven't agreed to.

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8 These underage girls are waiting for customers on the street near the Padma River. It is possible they were trafficked and then forced to work for prostitutes, a crime which can be punishable by death in Bangladesh Credit: Corbis - Getty

8 Misumi, whose age is unknown, lies with a regular client in the early morning in the country's largest brothel in Daulatdia, Bangladesh. Men who return regularly are known as 'boyfriends' and are less likely to use a condom Credit: Corbis - Getty

8 An underage sex worker smokes as she waits for customers in the central alleyway of Daulatdia, a village in Rajbari District Credit: Corbis - Getty

8 Underage sex workers Sonia and Jessna apply makeup to appear older for their clients in Daulatdia Credit: Corbis - Getty

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8 Reshma, who was 14 when this picture was taken, was among 20,000 street prostitutes working in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka. She applies here makeup as one of her friends looks on in the background Credit: AFP - Getty

"They say that they’re paying me for a service, so it’s my job to make them happy."

She was trafficked into the brothel aged just 11 and forced to marry a man in his 30s who she had never met before.

Rupa added: "When my husband raped me that night, I didn’t understand what was happening. I only felt pain."

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She soon fell pregnant and after her husband died in a work accident, her family refused to let her come home.

Although human trafficking can be punishable by death in Bangladesh, the madams in such brothels claim they are law abiding.

And at 18 per cent, Bangladesh has the highest rate of marriages involving girls under the age of 15 anywhere in the world, according to UNICEF statistics.

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