New Delhi: A 15-year-old girl, who had been allegedly kidnapped, sexually assaulted and forced into prostitution, was rescued by the Special Staff of Delhi Police Friday, approximately a month after she went missing from her home in the city’s Neb Sarai area. While three people have been arrested in the case so far, two minors have also been apprehended.
Incidentally, the girl was found approximately two kilometers away from her residence, where she had been living with her grandparents ever since her parents died two years back, sources in Delhi Police told ThePrint.
According to Delhi Police, the minor girl left her house last month after being scolded by her grandmother for her “mobile phone addiction”. When she didn’t return home even after a day, her family registered an FIR at Neb Sarai police station on 14 February.
She, however, remained untraceable till Friday, despite being found so close to home.
Police sources privy to the case said, the 15-year-old had met a minor boy she knew after leaving home, who took her home with him to nearby Devli.
“The boy took her to his house after convincing her that she could stay there until she feels fine and then go back. There he made relations with her,” claimed DCP (South) Chandan Choudhary.
The girl was then allegedly also forced into prostitution, according to police sources.
An FIR under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for kidnapping, voluntarily causing hurt, rape, criminal intimidation, insulting modesty of a woman, as well as sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act has been registered, said Delhi Police.
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‘Rescued based on technical surveillance, human intelligence’
Police sources said investigation has shown that the 15-year-old was confined to the house where the minor boy took her, made to live with a woman and her son — identified as Suman and Sonu— and two other girls, and forced into prostitution. The relation between the minor boy and Suman and Sonu is still under investigation.
On 16 March, the case was transferred to the Special Staff of Delhi Police from the local police station, with the 15-year-old being located within 30 hours, based on technical surveillance and human intelligence, sources in Delhi Police said.
While Sonu has been arrested along with the two other men, identified by police as Babu Miyan and Anand Kumar Jain, the woman Suman is still absconding, the sources added.
According to the sources, investigation has shown Babu (50) and Anand (58) were the “clients”, who allegedly paid Sonu and his mother for the sexual service received from the 15-year-old.
DCP Choudhary also said that after being rescued, the minor girl has been sent to a Shakhi — One Stop Centre of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, in South Delhi’s Malviya Nagar area.
“Her grandparents can meet her after they approach the Child Welfare Committee,” the DCP added. He further said that “Of the other two girls, one has been traced. Further investigation is on in the case.”
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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