Delhi
The 13-year-old girl, who is now three weeks pregnant, was kidnapped and is now staying in a shelter home.
Updated : Jul 15, 2017, 02:00 PM IST
A 13-year-old girl who was kidnapped in May this year returned home on July 7 after one of her kidnappers surrendered at the Saket court. However, the girl who is now three weeks pregnant, has refused to stay with her parents and is currently in a shelter home. Her father, on the other hand, has alleged that he had spent all his savings of around Rs 45,000 in looking after the cops' transportation and food expenditure during the search for his daughter.
According to the father Pritam (name changed) on May 10, his daughter left around 9:30am to purchase ice-cream in the vicinity and never returned. Pritam, a father of four - two sons and two daughters - works as a driver with the Indian Army on a contractual basis.
On the day of the incident, he was out for work in Bathinda and his wife who works in the neighbourhood was also out. The girl had informed her brother she was going out. But when she did not return, he called up their mother.
The mother returned home and the family members then carried out a search for the girl but to no avail. “I received a call from my wife and reached home the next day. From the first day we told the police regarding our suspicion on the 10-12 boys who stayed in the neighbourhood as they were nowhere to be seen after the incident,” said the father.
A case of kidnapping was later registered at the New Friends Colony police station. During investigations, police received a nikahnama which mentioned that the girl had been married to one Iddu Khan. Khan worked in the same neighbourhood where the girl lived and had also been missing. The nikahnama showed the girl's age to be 26. This raised the police's suspicion and several raids were conducted at Etah in Uttar Pradesh where Khan was said to be staying.
The police then arrested a man who was one of the witnesses to the wedding. On July 7, the man whom the girl had been married to, surrendered in the Saket Court along with her. She was medically examined and found to be three weeks pregnant, police said. However, she did not want to stay with her parents so she has been put up in a shelter home, they added. Her 'husband' and another witness to the marriage have been arrested and are currently in judicial custody.
Meanwhile, the family, though overjoyed at getting their daughter back, blame the police for profiting from their misery.
“I used to take my own car and drive the investigating officer as well as another police officer around. From fuel, to food, to accommodation, I spent all my money in desperation to find my daughter. I took the cops to Etah where the relative of one of the accused stayed, then to a village in Hathras which one of the accused belongs to,” added the father.
Romil Baaniya, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) said that an inquiry has been ordered into the father's allegations about being asked to pay for the travel expenses.
(With agency inputs)