Father-son duo’s arrest unearths inter-state human trafficking racket

LUCKNOW : The arrest of a father-son duo in Bahraich on Tuesday unearthed an inter-state racket involved in trafficking minor girls and women from remote areas of Bihar on the pretext of marriage and employment, said police here on Wednesday.

One Dhani Ram Pandit, 48, and his son Ankush, 25, residents of Rampur Dibiyapur village in Bahraich, were arrested for holding a 15-year-old girl from Bihar hostage. The duo was booked under IPC sections 376D (gangrape), 377 (sodomy), 344 (for holding hostage for more than 10 days), 370 (buying or disposing of any person as a slave) and 363 (kidnapping of a minor) as well as under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, said officials.

Inspector of Khairighat police station, Nikhil Kumar Srivastava, said the two accused revealed that they had fixed a deal with the girl’s family in Khagria district of Bihar on the pretext of her marriage and brought her around six months ago. One person, who is suspected to be the kingpin of the racket, and his accomplices, helped them in this, he said.

The inspector said the son married the girl so that nobody could suspect them and kept her hostage in their home in Bahraich. The girl alleged that the two accused raped her multiple times in the past few months. The incident came to fore when the girl, who was fed up with the sexual harassment by the two accused, escaped from the house and approached the local police station on Sunday, said Srivastava. He said the police swung into action and arrested the two accused on Tuesday. The girl was taken to a shelter home after medical examination. He said Khagaria police had informed that an FIR of the girl’s kidnapping was lodged there.