Girl rescued after being sold off by grandmother, 4 held

Delhi Police arrested four persons including the distant grandmother of a 17-year-old girl who sold the girl to a man in Dadri for Rs one lakh. Investigators shared that the girl was allegedly beaten and sexually assaulted by the man whom she was sold off to. Police further said that they have arrested the accused, Lilu, Sharjahan, Ramdhir and Chintaram while one of the accused, a middleman, Goldie is still absconding.

According to a senior police official, on August 26, the mother of the minor girl, who had a second marriage, went to Rajasthan for a few days. She left behind her daughter with one Sharjahan, a distant grandmother. Two days later, Sharjahan took the girl to an isolated spot and sold her off. The girl was taken to Dadri in Uttar Pradesh. When the girl resisted sexual advances, she was told she has been sold off.

The official further shared that when the girl’s mother returned to Nand Nagri on August 29, she got to know that Sharjahan had reportedly got her daughter married to a man in Dadri. When the girl’s mother went to Dadri to check on her daughter, the girl narrated that she was allegedly sold off to one Lilu on the pretext of marriage and was sexually assaulted and brutally beaten by Lilu.

When the minor girl’s mother tried to take away the girl, she was stopped by Lilu and his family. Scared, the mother approached a local NGO who further approached the local police and a case was registered at the Nand Nagri police station.

Investigators said that Sharjahan was called in for questioning. On sustained interrogation, she confessed that she sold the 17-year-old girl to Lilu for Rs one lakh through one Goldie, a middleman. Based on her statements, a team was formed and the girl was rescued while Lilu along with Ramdhir was arrested from the spot. A case under Sections 376, 343, 366, 323 and 506 of the IPC has been registered.