Delhi Police arrest four for trafficking minor, forced marriage

Four men have been arrested by the Delhi Police for allegedly trafficking a 13-year-old girl, who was married off in Uttar Pradesh for monetary benefits and then raped, officials said on Monday.

The men have been identified as Rajeev (40), a resident of Shamli; Vikas (20) from Hapur; Ashu (55), a native of Meerut; and Ramanjot Singh (24) from Ghaziabad, they said.

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Adding to their statement further, police said that the girl was rescued from Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli nearly a month after she went missing on July 21.

Bhisham Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest), said, “The minor went missing on July 21 after she left her residence in northwest Delhi’s JJ Colony, Wazirpur, for tuition but did not come back. With this information, a case of kidnapping was registered at the Bharat Nagar police station, and teams were formed to trace her.”

The minor told the police that, following an altercation with her father, she had left home and travelled via metro from the Inderlok metro station to the New Delhi railway station.

DCP Singh mentioned that she later boarded a train to Meerut, where she came across Vikas.

The accused, Vikas, allegedly lured the victim, who was then confined in co-accused Ashu’s house before being handed over to Rajeev, who intended to exploit her. To facilitate the deal, Ramanjot Singh created a forged Aadhaar card, falsely projecting her as an adult.

Additionally, it came out that Rajeev forcibly married the girl on July 24 and allegedly subjected her to sexual assault at his Shamli residence.

Meanwhile, the survivor’s family received a missed call from an unknown number. Later, when they contacted back, a woman said her daughter-in-law must have mistakenly called the number and cut the call.

During the investigation, the number was traced to Shamli, and the minor was then rescued from Rajeev’s residence with the help of the local police on Saturday.

The inquiry disclosed that Ramanjot, owner of a cyber cafe in Ghaziabad, created a forged Aadhaar card for the minor using an online PDF editing application. Police seized the fake document and four mobile phones used in the conspiracy.

“While questioning the accused, he disclosed that they had hatched a conspiracy to sell the girl for money. The victim’s statement corroborated the sequence of events, and she has been handed over to her family after counselling,” the DCP said.

The four men involved in the crime have all been booked under the relevant sections of the BNS, and further investigation into this case is ongoing, the DCP stated.