Teen writes her story to help cops nail rapists, traffickers

TALE OF HORROR Speechimpaired girl, who was raped and sold by several men over five years, was rescued from Murad Nagar in UP. A Class 8 dropout, she wrote a detailed account to help police establish the case

anti-human trafficking unit of the Ghaziabad police has rescued a 19-year-old speech-impaired girl who was allegedly sold and raped repeatedly by several men over at least five years in different cities of Uttar Pradesh.

The girl’s parents, natives of West Bengal, had moved to Saharanpur in search of work and started working at a local factory, police said. However, both of them died due to health problems and the girl, then 14 years of age, had to work as a help in the house of one Furkan.

The police are trying to ascertain the exact sequence of events and the time frame in which the incidents took place.

Despite her disability, the girl who is a Class 8 dropout, has shared all the details that she remembered by giving it in writing such as how she landed in Furkan’s house to a chain of middlemen and how she was sold and sexually assaulted repeatedly.

Ghaziabad District Magistrate Ministhy S is now personally monitoring the case and it was on her directions that the police expedited the legal proceedings and lodged an FIR under sections of illegal confinement, rape, gang-rape and provisions of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act against the accused persons.

“Furkan used to rape the girl, then a minor, when she worked at his house in Saharanpur. Later, he and his wife roped in Akshay and they sold her to Mehdi Hasan and Saad Malik of Ghaziabad. As per the victim, Akshay, Hasan and Malik also raped her before selling her to Anil Kashyap in Murad Nagar,” said Priyanjali Mishra, counsellor at government’s ‘Asha Jyoti Kendra’. Mishra is counselling the victim.

Kashyap also allegedly raped her and forced her to marry him. The girl, however, denied any formal marriage.

On June 1, the women helpline of Saharanpur police got a call about the girl. After initial probe into the complaint, the Saharanpur police alerted their Ghaziabad counterparts and a major operation was launched to trace the girl. Based on inputs by their informers and extensive interviews of people where the girl lived over all these years, the police on July 11 traced the girl to Kashyap’s house.

“When our teams rescued her from Murad Nagar, Kashyap claimed that she was married to her. However, all he had as proof was a piece of paper with the signature of the girl. In fact, the witnesses were Akshay, Malik and Hasan, who had sold her to Kashyap,” said Chandramohan Srivastava, district probation officer.

The officials suspect there could be a bigger anti-human trafficking racket at play.

“I am monitoring the case and recommended booking the accused under Goonda Act and Gangster Act, besides invoking the relevant sections of the law. Some sections of the Human Trafficking Act are yet to be added. I will speak to the SSP. We are working for her rehabilitation,” the DM said.

“We will also hold meetings with RWAs and officials soon to chalk out a strategy to help girls who are hired as domestic helps through placement agencies,” she said.

Police officials also indicated the accused may also be booked under POCSO as the girl was a minor when she was raped first.