How Tripura minor survived rape, torture and landed in Raj
JAIPUR: In four months beginning March, a 14-year-old from Tripura has gone through an ordeal unimaginable: she was sold twice, raped nine times, and had an abortion.
Finally, she escaped from her in-laws’ house – and her ordeal – in May first week and has been in a government shelter since then.
Her statement before a magistrate and before a panel of Rajasthan Commission for Protection of Child Rights lays bare her ordeal and her traumatic journey from Unakoti in Tripura to Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan, a distance of 2,500 km.
The Rajasthan and the Tripura child rights bodies have coordinated through the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), and a team of Tripura child right body will come to Jhunjhunu on July 13 to take the minor back to her family.
According to her statement, the girl lived with four sisters and a brother in Unakoti district. An official of the Child Welfare Committee, Unakoti, said her father died some years ago and they were from an extremely poor background.
“One day my neighbour, Raju, told my family that he will get me married to a good family. My parents are very poor. They agreed. For seven days, Raju kept me in Silchar (Assam) where I was physically abused four times,” she said in the statement on June 23, a copy of which is with HT.
Raju later took her to Delhi and sold her to one Ashok Saini
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A medical board was The minor girl was set up on June 29 for traced in Rajasthan by abortion. She (the girl) was the state government... admitted to district The Tripura government hospital on June 30 and will send a team to her abortion was carried Rajasthan soon to bring out on July 2. back the girl here.
SANGEETA BENIWAL, Rajasthan child rights panel chairperson
of Jhunjhunu in April. Saini ‘sold’ her to Pawan Saini, his neighbour, for ₹2 lakh. Pawan married the girl.
RSCPCR chairperson Sangeeta Beniwal said between April and May, the girl was raped five times.
“Her mother-in-law also harassed her for not understanding the local language and being slow with the household chores,” she said.
In May 2, the girl managed to escape from Pawan Saini’s house and hid in a nearby field. Pawan registered a missing person report, mentioning a fake name and that she was 20 years old. Police found her on May 3, hiding in nearby fields, and suspected that she was much younger than the age mentioned in the missing complaint.
Mandawa police station in-charge Mukesh Kumar said she was kept in a government rehabilitation centre and the district child rights body wrote to Tripura police for her details.
When Tripura police sent documents related to her age and when it was found that she was only 14, her medical tests were done on June 15 and she was
BARNALI GOSWAMI, Tripura Commission for Women
found to be pregnant for 74 days. The girl narrated her ordeal before the RSCPCR team after this.
After detection of her pregnancy, the girl told the district magistrate and additional judicial magistrate on June 23 that she wanted to abort it. RSCPCR chairperson Beniwal said a medical board was set up on June 29 for abortion. “She was admitted to district hospital on June 30 and her abortion was carried out on July 2,” Beniwal said.
Jhunjhunu police booked Ashok Saini and Pawan Saini for kidnapping, trafficking and rape, and arrested them. They are in jail.
The SHO said, “The two accused were arrested under section 363(kidnapping), 366 (abducting any woman with intent that she may be compelled, forced or seduced to illicit intercourse) 370 (trafficking minor), 376 (rape) of Indian Penal Code and violations of POCSO Act, Juvenile Justice Act and Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.”
The Jhunjhunu police are also looking for Raju and are seeking the help of their counterparts in
Tripura to nab him.
In India, girls and women from the poorer north-eastern states and from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are trafficked for marriage to Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab, the states having skewed girl child sex ratio. According to National Crime Records Bureau data, 910 cases of trafficking were registered in 2018 across India.
However, many of the trafficking cases of minor girls are registered under kidnapping of which 12,524 cases were recorded in 2019.
In this case, the Tripura High Court took suo motu cognizance on June 17 and sought state’s response on “appropriate ways to ensure the safety and security of the minor girl”. According to the Tripura government’s reply in the HC on July 6, the NCPCR, RSCPCR and TCPCR were coordinating to reunite her with the family and ensure her well-being.
The three child rights bodies had a video conference on Thursday (July 9) in which it was decided that a team comprising of women member of Tripura would come to Jhunjhunu on July 13 and take the girl back home the next day.
“The minor girl was traced in Rajasthan by the state government with the help of the Tripura Commission for Women and Tripura State Commission for Protection of Child Rights. The state government will send a team to Rajasthan soon to bring back the girl here,” said chairperson of Tripura Commission for Women Barnali Goswami.