Tuesday, January 18, 2011
For Rs 50,000, farmer gets a minor as bride; calls up cops, girl walks free
The 14-year-old girl from Valsad (Gujrat) is reunited with family
The Valsad police has rescued a minor girl reportedly sold by marriage agents as a prospective bride to a Banaskantha farmer for Rs 50,000. Finding his prospective bride a minor, the 30-year-old farmer traced her guardians and informed the police, the police said on Monday.
The police have registered a case against four agents — Prakash of Dungri village of Valsad district, Hiral alias Jigli of Valsad town, and Vishnu and Kiran, both from Ahmedabad. A couple of months ago, a similar incident had occurred in Valsad district.
The girl (14) — a resident of Mograwadi in Valsad district — is a daily wage labourer, and stays with her grandmother.
The police said, on December 28, the girl came in contact with Hiral, a resident of government quarters in Valsad, who promised her a job of a kitchen help at a private function in Dahanu in neighbouring Maharashtra. The girl accompanied Hiral promising her grandmother of her return in two days. When she did not return, her uncle Sujauddin contacted Hiral who said she was not with her. Sujauddin then lodged a missing complaint at the Valsad town police station.
A few days ago, Sujauddin received a call on his cellphone from a man in Umrecha village of Banaskantha who said that his niece was with him. The caller said the three marriage agents had cheated him of Rs 50,000. He said he was surprised to find his prospective bride was a minor and had so asked her to provide her guardian’s contact number. After Sujauddin passed on the information of the conversation to the Valsad police, a team left for Umrecha and rescued the girl.
Sub-Inspector N K Kamliya said: “The agents had not revealed the name, religion and age of the minor girl. After the farmer learnt she was a minor he informed the Umrecha police, which started investigations to arrest the agents. The farmer had sold off his land and paid the money to the agents to get him a suitable girl for marriage.”
Valsad Superintendent of Police D B Vaghela: “We have taken strict action against the accused whenever we have come across any such complaint. We are searching for the agents who are now absconding and have switched off their cellphones. We are trying to take out the call details of the agents to trace them. We have alerted our staff to identify such people roaming in different villages in Valsad district.” Source
Posts
