Trapped in a beggars' gang in Tamil Nadu, a 11-year-old girl escaped by disguising herself as a boy and later spent three months at a home for destitute boys.

The girl, Pattu, hailing from Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu, is now in Thalassery police station.

Now that the truth is out, the authorities of the destitute home at nearby Mattannur, have refused to accommodate the girl any longer with other boy inmates.

The girl, in all probability, would be shifted to a new home on getting direction from the Thalassery Juvenile Court, a senior police official told PTI on Friday.

Trapped in the beggars' gang, the hapless girl, as advised by her sister, left the place disguising herself as a boy to escape possible harassment from the public, the police said. Police had taken the "boy" into custody in March after the child was found wandering at the Thalassery Railway Station.

Soon after learning "his" story of humiliation and seeing the marks of physical torture meted out by the beggars, some social workers helped and directed "him" to the home for destitute at Mattannur.

The authorities of the destitute home said the girl took care not to let others know her true identity and behaved like a boy till officials sought the help of a gynaecologist to establish her identity.