Odisha case: 7 arrested by Palwal Police

The Palwal Police, on Thursday arrested a total of seven persons in connection with the case of trafficking and sexual assault of a 12 year-old minor girl from Odisha who was rescued on the morning of November 30 by the Haryana Police. The district police had arrested four persons a day after the girl was rescued and all seven have been sent to 14 days police custody, said Sushila Devi, in-charge, Women Police Station — where an FIR was registered after the girl’s complaint.

According to the police, the girl was allegedly trafficked from her village by her own uncle (Suresh) on the pretext of finding her work outside the village. Further investigations revealed that the girl was forcibly married off to one of the accused, identified as Roop Chand (35), who was mentally challenged. She was sold off to other acquaintances of her uncle for Rs 50,000 and sexually exploited on various occasions. “The minor girl was forcibly married to Roop Chand for nearly 12 days before she escaped from Saroli Village. She was sold to two other accused Hari Singh and Govind Singh of the same village for Rs 80,000. This was the second time she was sold off,” said a senior police official.

Further investigations revealed that the girl left Roop Chand’s house while he was sleeping and reached the main road. It was then when she was about to catch a bus from the bus stop that two men — Goverdhan and Jitender — spotted her and asked her to sit in the auto,” the official further revealed.

The girl was taken to a jungle-like place off Dhatir Road in Palwal where the two men took turns to rape her. After raping her once, Goverdhan took the minor to his place to rape her again. However, he slept off and the minor girl managed to escape.

The accused have been identified as Om Prajapati, Beeri Singh, Hari Singh, Govind Singh and Roop Singh. The second episode of trafficking took place when Beeri Singh (who wanted a girl for his son, Roop Singh) contacted Om Prajapati Singh, who is from Faridabad. 

The latter got Roop Chand married to the minor girl. The accused persons have been arrested under Sections 363, 365, 366 A, 370, 120B of the Indian Penal Code and Section 6 of the POCSO Act.