13-yr-old girl rescued from trafficking, forced marriage

A 13-year-old girl was rescued from Shamli after she was allegedly trafficked, married off for monetary benefits and raped after she left home in Northwest Delhi’s Bharat Nagar following a dispute with her father nearly a month ago, the police said on Monday.

Four persons identified as Rajeev (40), a resident of Shamli, Vikas (20) from Hapur, Ashu (55) from Meerut and Ramanjot Singh (24) from Ghaziabad have been arrested in this regard, they said.

Addressing a press conference, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest) Bhishma Singh said they received a call regarding a missing girl at the Bharat Nagar police station on July 21.

The victim’s mother reported that her 13-year-old daughter left the house in JJ Colony, Wazirpur, for tuition at 5 pm, but did not return. Based on her statement, a case was registered under Section 137(2) of the BNS.

After an intense technical analysis, she was rescued from Jhal village, Shamli district, Uttar Pradesh, and three persons were arrested. Another accused, her alleged husband, was also arrested later.

The victim told the police that she had left her home in a distressed state after an argument with her father and travelled by Metro from the Inderlok Metro station to the New Delhi railway station, the DCP said, adding that from there, she boarded a train and reached Meerut, where she came across Vikas.

Vikas lured her and she was subsequently confined in the house of co-accused Ashu and later handed over to Rajeev, who intended to “purchase” her, the DCP added. To facilitate the deal, a fake Aadhaar card was prepared by another accused, Ramanjot Singh, projecting her as an adult.

The police said Rajeev forcibly married the girl on July 24 and allegedly subjected her to sexual assault at his Shamli residence. In between, the girl’s family received a missed call from an unknown number.

When contacted, a woman said her daughter-in-law must have mistakenly called on the number and disconnected the call. The location of the number was traced to Shamli and the girl was rescued from Rajeev’s residence with the help of the local police on August 16.

“During interrogation, the accused disclosed that they had hatched a conspiracy to sell the girl for money. The victim’s statement corroborated the sequence of events and she was handed over to her family after counselling,” the DCP said.