Female neighbour, four aides held for pushing 15-year-old Chandigarh girl into prostitution

The gang’s another member, a gangrape convict, was already arrested in November last year after the girl was found three months pregnant

Based on the account of a 15-year-old girl, who was pushed into prostitution, police have arrested her female neighbour and her four accomplices.

After the girl was found pregnant, she was shifted to Snehalaya, Chandigarh, where she narrated her sexual exploitation during counselling. (HT)

The gang’s another member, a gangrape convict, was already arrested in November last year after the girl was found three months pregnant.

The accused have been identified as Chanchal, 29, Poonam Jain, 57, Suman, 32, and Ravinder Singh, 47, all residents of Manimajra, and Raj Rani, 61, of Sector 30.

The gangrape convict is Kunal, alias Kallu, 28, also of Manimajra. He was convicted In March 2018, and awarded 20-year rigorous imprisonment. But he was let out on special parole on June 23, 2021, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, following which he sexually assaulted the child.

“Chanchal admitted that she used to take the girl to different clients. The other accused were arrested on her disclosure,” said Sukhwinder Pal Singh, deputy superintendent of police (DSP, North East), Chandigarh.

Following Kunal’s arrest in November, the girl was shifted to Snehalaya, where she narrated her sexual exploitation during counselling. She disclosed that her neighbour, Chanchal, used to take her to different men, who sexually assaulted her, and pay her ₹500 thereafter.

According to police, the victim was sexually exploited in various houses of Manimajra Housing Complex and Sector 30.

Police have registered a case under Sections 363 (kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc), 376 -3 (rape) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act at the Manimajra police station.

The accused were produced before a court on Thursday. Chanchal, Suman and Ravinder were remanded to judicial custody, while Rani was sent to one-day police remand.