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Rajasthan minor who eloped with woman teacher traced to TN: Cops
The family of the Hindu girl ended their sit-in protest outside the Sri Dungargarh police station after nearly four days
The Bikaner police on Wednesday tracked down a 17-year-old girl and her 21-year-old Muslim woman teacher in Chennai, days after they allegedly eloped from Sri Dungargarh town on June 30 and later posted a video online saying they are in love and wanted to be together, a senior officer said.
The family of the Hindu girl — a class 12 student at a private school in the town — who lodged a complaint of abduction and forced conversion against the teacher and her family, ended their sit-in protest outside the Sri Dungargarh police station after nearly four days.
Based on their complaint, police booked the teacher, her father, and her two brothers under Sections 363 and 366 — both related to abduction — and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Juvenile Justice Act.
On Wednesday, police said initial investigation revealed there was no third person with the duo in Chennai and prima facie there is no case of conversion as alleged by the family and a few Hindu right-wing organisations.
“We traced the two with the help of our cybercrime cell and the local police in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. We are in the process to transfer their custody to Bikaner police,” Inspector General (IG), Bikaner range, Om Prakash said.
According to the police, the girl went to her school on June 30 and was missing since. At the same time, her 2-year-old teacher was also reported missing. A first information report (FIR) was registered at the local police station on the next morning, an officer said.
Their disappearance triggered protests in Sri Dungargarh town of Bikaner district with the local traders’ association observing a shutdown of markets on Tuesday demanding quick rescue of the Hindu girl and action against her teacher for “forcefully abducting the minor for conversion”.
A group of Hindu right-wing outfits led by Shree Med Kshatriya Swarnakar Samaj in Rajasthan’s Churu district also called a bandh, which was called off after the girl and her teacher were tracked down on Wednesday.
“We informed the family and the people who had been protesting for a long time. They called off the dharna,” the Bikaner IG said. “Further investigation will be done impartially and in accordance with the law.”
On Tuesday morning, the girl and her teacher posted a video on YouTube, apologising to their families and protesters. The girl, who had covered her face in the video, said: “We are in a lesbian relationship for a long time. I urge police not to take action against relatives of my teacher as she has neither kidnapped me nor converted me.”
She added: “We came together of our own will; I have not been kidnapped.”
The teacher also in the video said she did not coax the girl and there was no role of her family behind their leaving together.
Bikaner superintendent of police (SP) Tejaswani Gautam on Tuesday said they brought the charge of abduction against the teacher as the girl was a minor and “such elopement despite her consent is not permissible in law”.
