Twenty minor girls who were allegedly brought from Nepal were rescued from the clutches of a circus owner in Kushinagar district of Uttar Pradesh, police said in Lucknow on Wednesday.

The complaint lodged by a Nepal-based NGO alleged that the girls were sexually exploited by the circus owner.

On being approached by the parents of the girls, the Nepal-based NGO rescued the girls from the circus owner in Kushinagar, police added.

After they failed to register a case against the circus owner, the NGO's officials contacted Lucknow's district magistrate, who ordered for a medical examination of the girls and asked the police to take action against the owner of the circus.

The NGO had also written to the Nepalese embassy in the country, which in turn wrote to the inspector general of Gorakhpur seeking action against the accused, sources added.

The rescued girls alleged that they were sexually exploited and were kept in locked rooms.

Following the case registered by the Nepal-based NGO, national coordinator of Bachpan Bachao Andolan R K Rai said that his organisation would move a PIL in the Allahabad high court seeking to book the culprits.