E-Paper
Ludhiana: 14-yr-old held captive for 4 months, pushed into prostitution, 4 booked
A 14-year-old Fazilka girl was held captive for four months in Ludhiana, raped repeatedly and pushed into prostitution by a 23-year-old woman and her three aides,
A 14-year-old Fazilka girl was held captive for four months in Ludhiana, raped repeatedly and pushed into prostitution by a 23-year-old woman and her three aides, police said on Sunday.
The Dugri police have launched a manhunt to arrest the accused, Ramandeep, alias Simran, 23, of Dugri, who kidnapped the child; her friend Gagan, who raped the victim; and their accomplices Ashu and Sunita of Tibba Road, who made money off of pandering the girl.
The matter came to fore after the victim narrated the ordeal to her mother, who approached the Fazilka police. After lodging a zero FIR on February 14, the Fazilka police referred the case to Ludhiana police, who registered a case on February 29.
KIDNAPPED IN SEPT 2019
The victim, a student of Class 8 in Laduka, Fazilka, told the police that she and her younger brother had been living with their grandmother for over a year following marital discord between their parents.
On September 10, 2019, after her mother chastised over a petty issue, she fled home. She boarded a train for Ludhiana, where she stayed on a platform for two days. There, Ramandeep lured her to her house in Dugri, offering her help in returning home.
Ramandeep kept her at her house for over a month, where she forced her take drugs. In the absence of the woman, her friend Gagan raped her for three days. In October, the duo sent her to the house of a woman named Sunita at Tibba Road.
Sunita and her accomplice Ashu then pushed her into prostitution. Sunita would send her with different men after sedating her with drugs.
The victim added that managed to escape from Sunita’s house in January 2020 and returned to the Ludhiana railway station, where she was found by members of Childline helpline. They helped reunite her with her parents. Earlier in February, she revealed the matter to her mother, who took her to the police.
Sub-inspector Davinder Sharma, SHO, Dugri police station, said they had booked the four accused under Sections 370 (buying or disposing of any person as a slave), 370-A (exploitation of a trafficked child), 372 (selling minor for purposes of prostitution, etc), 373 (buying minor for purposes of prostitution, etc) and 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the POCSO Act. Efforts are on to arrest the accused.
