India: Father sells 16-year-old, girl abandoned after pregnancy
A case was registered under POCSO Act of the Indian Penal Code
A father sold his 16-year-old daughter to a 21-year-old man for Rs3,000 (Dh149). The incident was reported from Raigarh district in the Indian state of Chattisgarh.
Later, after being rescued from the streets while in labour, it took five months of counselling to get the 18-year-old to speak up and talk about the accused.
According to the Indian news reports, a young man who bought the 16-year-old two years’ ago, then left her on the street when the girl became pregnant. Recently, the girl has spoken to authorities about the abuse she suffered during the time.
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When the man bought the girl for Rs3,000, he promised the father that he would give the teenager a job in his house. But the young man sexually abused the girl for many months, and left her on the street after impregnating her.
The girl was rescued by the Women and Child Welfare Department in May this year. Until the authorities arrived, no one was willing to help the girl due to the fear of COVID-19 infection.
Reportedly, after delivering a baby, she was treated at a hospital in Bilaspur and later shifted to 'Sakhi' centre in Raigarh last month.
Sakhi or One Stop Centre (OSC) is a scheme launched in the year 2015-16 to provide integrated support and assistance to women affected by any kind of violence, both in the private and public sphere, in India.
The girl says the ordeal began when her mother died. Police have now booked the man who bought her, under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.