A 21-year-old woman was rescued from a house in Mandi Gobindgarh, 14km from here, where she was allegedly confined and forced into prostitution by her boyfriend and his family, police said on Sunday. Sources told HT that she has even named some police officials who allegedly exploited her.
The woman, who says she is from Ludhiana, claims to have been held hostage in a rented accommodation in Kacha Dalip Nagar area of Mandi Gobindgarh. As residents got suspicious after the main gate was rarely opened, they informed the media and the police, who conducted the raid on Saturday and found the woman inside.
She claimed that she had befriended a man named Sahjad Khan from Malerkotla in Sangrur district during a train journey 15 months ago. As they came closer, she agreed to elope with Sahjad to marry him. But Sahjad, who was already married, and his family forced the woman into prostitution. She accused Sahjad, his brother Salman Khan and mother Parveen of physical and mental torture; all three have been booked under the Immoral Trafficking Act but remain at large, said senior superintendent of police (SSP) HS Mann.
The woman was first taken to the civil hospital in Mandi Gobindgarh on Saturday night but, as the doctor concerned was absent, her medical examination was conducted at the Amloh civil hospital.
{{/usCountry}}The woman was first taken to the civil hospital in Mandi Gobindgarh on Saturday night but, as the doctor concerned was absent, her medical examination was conducted at the Amloh civil hospital.
{{/usCountry}}Mandi Gobindgarh police station house officer (SHO) Dalbir Singh Grewal said the woman claimed to be a school dropout whose father plies a rickshaw in Ludhiana. "She says she had been married to a man from Jalandhar but divorced him. We are verifying the claims," he said. The probe is with the deputy superintendent of police (DSP), Amloh.
Meanwhile, Paramjit Kaur Landran, the newly appointed chairperson of the Punjab State Woman Commission, demanded immediate arrest of the accused.