Raped and ‘married’, 13-year-old pregnant Delhi girl refuses to return home

The 13-year-old had gone missing two months ago and returned with her alleged abductor and rapist last week. The two have claimed that they had married and the girl has shown unwillingness to return home.

‘Married’ at 13 and three weeks pregnant, a minor girl rescued by the police has refused to go to her parents and expressed willingness to return to her ‘husband’ and alleged rapist — a 22-year-old man — currently in jail. The young man is behind bars as according to Indian laws, he married a minor and allegedly forced her into a physical relationship, getting her pregnant.

The man is behind bars as according to Indian laws, he married a minor and allegedly forced her into a physical relationship.(HT File Photo)

The young woman’s father had filed a complaint of abduction on May 10, when the minor girl left home to buy ice-cream for her family. When they surrendered before a city court judge last week, she was three weeks pregnant. A case of rape was then filed against the man.

Read: How a Delhi man searched for his ‘missing’ 13-year-old daughter for two months

Police said they are clueless about their further course of action because the minor girl has refused to return to her parents and wants to be together with the ‘alleged rapist.’

The 22-year-old Iddu Khan, who worked as a cook told the police that he had married the girl, following which he was booked under the Child Marriage Restraint Act. The police have also nabbed two of Khan’s friends who acted as ‘witnesses’ to the marriage.

“The marriage has no validity,” said Romil Baniya, DCP (south-east).

The girl is currently under the care of the Children Welfare Committee, which will also take a call on the future of her pregnancy. The girl lived with her parents and two younger brothers in a single room accommodation in south east Delhi. The accused Khan lived with his group of friends in the same neighbourhood.