Udaipur : A 13-year old girl from Sonbadhra district in UttarPradesh was sold to a 30 year old man in Chittorgarh’s Babrana, who forcibly married her seven months ago and ill treated her. The girl who managed to get the childline number sought help and was lucky enough to be rescued after months of sufferings.The girl is presently in a state aided shelter home in Chittorgarh. On Wednesday, Dr Shailendra Pandya, member of Rajasthan State Commission for Protection of Child Rights in a visit to Chittorgarh inspected shelter homes and the girl narrated her moving story to him.
Bhojraj Singh, incharge of the shelter home said that the girl lived with her parents, two sisters and a brother in ShaktiNagar of Sonbhadra. She was studying in class 6. On 14 February, their neighbor Lakshmi Dadeech wife of Satyanarayan resident of Bhilwara took her from home on the pretext of a tour and brought her to Chittorgarh. They kept her in a home at Akola for few days and called one BasantiLal Dadeech. The girl was told that she was going to be married to BasantiLal and despite her protests, the marriage was held at a mass gathering in Kota on February 25. Lakshmi took 2.70 Lakh rupees from Basantilal for the bride and the man took her to his home in Babrana in Chittorgarh and had forced sexual activities.
The girl said she was beaten and abused by her husband and his elder brother and when she told about it to her parents on telephone, her parents said they could not travel due to the lockdown and once its over, they would take her back home. Later BasantiLal did not allow her to speak to her family and disconnected all calls from her parents. Shailendra Pandya said the matter would be thoroughly investigated and asked the police to lodge the case under provisions of POCSO Act, Child Trafficking, child marriage and domestic violence. He also said that the commission would take action on gangs working to sell children and marrying them to old men.