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

The girl had left her home two months ago to buy ice cream and was allegedly kidnapped. From accompanying policemen during their raids, to paying for their expenses, ‘spying’ on them and filing a petition in a court — a 49-year-old man did everything he could to ensure that investigators managed to trace his ‘missing’ minor daughter.

From accompanying policemen during their raids, to paying for their expenses and from ‘spying’ on them, to filing a petition in a court — a 49-year-old man did everything he could to ensure that investigators managed to trace his ‘missing’ minor daughter.

A minor girl from south Delhi’s Taimur Nagar, who allegedly eloped with her neighbour two months ago, returned last week and was found to be three months pregnant. (Ajay Aggarwal/ Ht Photo)

However, when his 13-year-old daughter was finally traced last week, he was left enraged and bitter. His daughter was three weeks pregnant and unwilling to return home.

The accused, he found, was none other than his 22-year-old neighbour Iddu Khan who had even ‘married’ his daughter.

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

Employed as a driver by a retired army officer, the father was on duty in Bhatinda on May 10 when he learnt that his daughter had disappeared. He returned to Taimur Nagar and filed a missing complaint with the police. It was soon established that the suspect was Iddu Khan, a neighbour who had gone missing after the incident.

The man has claimed that not a single penny was returned to him, prompting Romil Baaniya, DCP (southeast), to launch a probe into his allegations.

Not satisfied with the police’s action in looking for his daughter, the man filed a petition with a Delhi court. “The court ordered that my daughter be traced at the earliest. But I still did not trust them to do the job,” said the man.

When he called the investigating officer, he was told that a raid was on. But he did not believe the officer. So, he decided to spy on the police team. “I hired a cab for Rs 7,000 and visited Aliganj where the raid was supposedly taking place. I found the investigators camping there to conduct raids,” said the father.

He alleged that the police took advantage of his desperation. “They began using my car for transporting prisoners and for personal work,” he alleged.

But the police pressure and the constant raids at the homes of the relatives of the accused Iddu Khan. The arrest of one of his relatives, on charges of being a ‘witness’ to the wedding of a child, forced Khan to surrender on July 7.

“My daughter is too innocent to realise that if he loved her, he wouldn’t have established physical relations with her despite knowing her age,” the girl’s mother told Hindustan Times. “Forget loving my girl, he did not even care for her safety, or he wouldn’t have had unprotected sex with her,” her more forthcoming father added.

His daughter, meanwhile, is under the custody of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), which will soon take a call on her pregnancy.

According to a member of the Delhi’s Juvenile Justice Board, the CWC will most likely order the termination of her pregnancy.