Rohtak: Haryana police have arrested a man named Sandeep and his mother from Bhiwani for buying a minor girl from Odisha for Rs 2 lakh. The duo bought the girl with the intention of marrying her to the man, but kept her hostage for over two months, police said.
Although the girl, said to be about 15-year-old, was being kept hostage for two months now, the incident came to the fore when the victim made a futile attempt to escape from her confinement Thursday. In a bid to escape, the girl jumped from the widow of the second floor of the house where she was confined and injured herself. As she lay on the ground crying for help, neighbours spotted her and called the police.
A team from Bhiwani police station arrived at the spot and rescued the girl. Later, Bhiwani women police station SHO Nanhi Devi told the media that the victim told them that her uncle brought her to Haryana on the pretext of seeing a relative, but sold her to accused Sandeep and his mother Shakuntala for Rs 2 lakh.
The SHO further said that the victim informed them that the accused Sandeep married her forcibly at a local temple and since then she has been kept hostage at his house. “During this period the accused sexually assaulted her time and again,” the SHO revealed.
Based on the statement of the girl, Bhiwani police arrested Sundeep and his mother Thursday. The two have been booked under Sections of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act. According to the police, they have also launched a hunt to arrest the uncle of the girl who brought her to Haryana from Odisha and sold her to Sandeep and his mother.
The girl’s family has been informed and her father will be reaching Bhiwani shortly, she said.
When asked if girl’s exact age had been ascertained, he said, “As of now, we don’t have any document to establish this. In case we don’t get any age proof from her, a bone ossification test will be conducted to determine her age.”
Meanwhile, Bhiwani child welfare committee president Subhash Jindal said they were providing counselling to the victim.
“She is getting treatment for her injury and is being counselled we hope we will be able to get more information from the girl about the case. Unfortunately, the victim cannot speak or read Hindi and so it was easy for her own uncle, the elder brother of the girl’s father. Currently, we are trying to find more details regarding the girl’s family,” Jindal said.
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