Rajasthan teacher who eloped with minor arrested

A 21-year-old Muslim woman teacher and a 17-year-old Hindu girl who allegedly eloped were arrested in Jaipur after being brought back from Tamil Nadu. The teacher, her father, and two brothers have been booked on charges of abduction and criminal conspiracy. The girl's family has accused the teacher of abduction and forced conversion. The district child welfare committee will decide whether the girl will be handed over to her family or sent to a shelter home. The teacher and the girl were traced to Chennai and their custody will be transferred to Bikaner police.

Jaipur: The 21-year-old Muslim woman teacher, who had allegedly eloped with a 17-year-old girl from Rajasthan’s Bikaner district, was arrested soon after they were brought back from Tamil Nadu on Thursday morning, a senior police officer said.

The teacher, who has been accused by the girl’s family of abduction and forced conversion, was taken into custody on Thursday morning, a senior officer said, adding the girl’s statement was also recorded by the Bikaner police (FILE )

Based on a complaint by the family of the Hindu girl — a class 12 student at a private school in Sri Dungargarh town, police have 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 prevention of children from sexual offences (Pocso) Act.

The teacher, who has been accused by the girl’s family of abduction and forced conversion, was taken into custody on Thursday morning, a senior officer said, adding the girl’s statement was also recorded by the Bikaner police.

“The girl was produced before the district child welfare committee (CWC) on Thursday morning,” assistant superintendent of police (ASP), Bikaner Rural, Deepak Sharma, said, adding that the committee will decide whether she would be handed over to her family or sent to the government shelter home.

Further investigation in the case was underway, the ASP said.

The two were tracked down in Chennai on Wednesday, days after they went missing from Sri Dungargarh town on June 30.

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 had said.

According to the police, the girl went to her school on June 30 and was missing since. At the same time, her 21-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”.