19-year-old Bastar girl trafficked, sold for Rs 30k in UP, rescued

In yet another case of human trafficking in Chhattisgarh, a 19-year-old tribal girl who was sold off for Rs 30,000 in Uttar Pradesh was rescued by Bastar police following arrest of the woman agent who took her to Mathura luring the girl for an exertion with the help of another woman.The girl had walked out of her home after having a heated argument with the family and finding her alone at the roadside hotel, the woman agent trapped her.
The accused woman identified as Kalpana Mandal, 36, had sold off the girl hailing from Kondagaon district for marriage with an elderly man at Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh.
Kondagaon SP Santosh Singh told TOI that the girl was rescued and her condition was fine and hasn't complained of any sort of assault.Singh said that girl's parents had lodged a missing complaint on June 20 at village Kerawahi, suspecting trafficking in the case Kondagaon police constituted a team to trace the missing girl when they found her location at UP.Taking along the parents to identify the girl, the police team travelled to UP at a village called Kaji and rescued her safely on June 28 and brought back to Chhattisgarh on Sunday.The girl in her statement said that after having an argument in the family she absconded form home and was standing at highway near Kanker when the woman Kalpana approached her in a Bolero vehicle, Singh said.She spoke to the girl with sympathy and took her to Odsiha where she met another woman called Tina. They both brought her to Jagdalpur and stayed for two days when the girl expressed need to return home but in stead the women lured her for exertion to see temples at Mathura and took her to UP via train from Raipur.After selling her off to a man and collecting Rs 30,000, the duo returned.The tribal girl informed police about Kalpana and her address after which she was arrested and confessed to the crime while Tina is still at large. She was arrested under Section of 366, 368, 370 and 34 of the IPC.Meanwhile, it is suspected that Kalpana had been acting as conduit for traffickers at other states and might have sent many girls for slavery, marriage and prostitution. Police said that she was being interrogated for further leads.