Two men turn saviours for raped, pregnant minor
NOIDA: When 18-year-old Chintu arrived in Noida’s Mamura village in the first week of October to deliver a tub of drinking water, he saw a minor girl — with a septic infection in her leg — lying on the street outside the house.
After asking him for food, the 16-year-old girl, who hails from Varanasi, told Chintu that a man named Suraj — who had lured her into a relationship almost a year ago — had deserted her. She claimed she had taken a loan of R20,000 from Suraj, who was also her neighbour, when her mother had fallen sick. Within 10 days, her mother died and Suraj started pressuring her to get into a physical relationship with him. Soon after, he made her move in with him.
She said that hours before Chintu arrived, Suraj had locked his rented room and pushed her to streets to sustain herself. Soon after, he fled the area. “She said she had come to Noida with her mother 10 years ago, soon after her father had died in Varanasi,” Chintu said.
Afraid that the young girl would slip through the cracks of urban apathy, Chintu brought her home — a two-room set of 70 yards — at Bahlolpur village in Sector 65 where he stays with his elder brother Pintu (22). Within six hours, the siblings rented a room for her in the same building. They even paid the rent of R3500. For the next one month, Chintu — a water delivery boy — and Pintu — a driver who works in Sector 121 — became her caregivers: attending to her needs and providing her food.
“Together, we earn R12,000 a month and somehow get by. But when Chintu brought her home, we decided to help her as she was distraught. When we took her to a hospital, we got to know that she was seven-month pregnant. So, my brother made sure that she ate well. He would either cook for her or get it from eateries. We also got her infection treated,” Pintu said.
When her health improved almost a month later, the girl expressed her desire to get an abortion. Clueless as to what to do, the siblings approached Noida-based NGO Holistic Well Being Services.
“We made her understand that it was a risky step since she was eight months’ pregnant. On Friday, she filed a complaint against Suraj, alleging that he raped her for months on the pretext of providing her help,” Smita Pandey, founder of Holistic Well Being Services, Noida.
Noida police arrested
Suraj from his residence in Mamura village on Saturday. “The accused has been booked under IPC Section 376 and Section 3 and 4 of POCSO Act. We recorded the girl’s statement in front of the city magistrate on Saturday. We will decide if she should be sent to a shelter home or Varanasi,” Akhilesh Tripathi, SHO, Phase 3 police station, said.