GURGAON: The local police and non-government organization Shakti Vahini rescued a 14-year-old girl who had been trafficked and sold to a 50 year old man who forced her as a sex slave in Haryana. The girl had been trafficked from Assam more than two months ago and sold to a man in a village in Hisar in Haryana for around Rs.1 lakh, the trafficker has been arrested. The girl was not just sexually exploited, but also tortured by having hot water poured on her and her hands scratched with blade. She was rescued on 23 August and is now at a Children’s Home. The girl was kidnapped from her native place two months back by one Safiqul and sold off to Dharmender in Hisar. The perpetrators had been telling her that a man would marry her but she was confined and sexually abused by Dharmender in a house. She was kept like a sex slave and was forced to do all the household chores from mending buffaloes to cleaning and cooking during the day time and sexual exploitation at night. During a conversation with the NGO members, the girl revealed that she was brought to Delhi by Safiqul and his acquaintances and initially they kept her at a hotel near Jama Masjid in Delhi for a week, when Safiqul too exploited her sexually. After a week Dharmender approached Safiqul who then sent her along with him to Hisar. She told the NGO team that Dharmender used to beat him up, scratch her hands with blade and pour hot water on her to torture her. When the team first met the child during the raid, she hugged the woman counsellor when she found the counsellor speaking Assamese and mumbled, “Moi eyat nathaku. (I won’t stay here),” with tears rolling down her eyes. The raid was conducted following a tip-off by the Assam Police. The girl managed to call her family from a landline number and the matter was reported to them said Assistant Commissioner of Police of Jalukbari, Ms Madhurima. “We then traced the call to Hisar in Haryana and alerted the local police and Shakti Vahini. Safiqul has been arrested, but three of his accomplices are on the run,” ACP Madhurima said. ‘’Minor girls, mostly Muslim, from West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand and Orissa are trafficked to states like Haryana where there is skewed sex ratio and are sold off to middle-aged men as slaved brides. ]]>
