AGRA: A wedding photo posted online has miraculously put an end to a 17-year-old girl's ordeal that lasted months after she was abducted, bundled into a waiting car and drugged by a man she knew on May 18, 2024. She was on her way to a coaching institute in Mainpuri at that time.
In the next eight months, the Class 11 student was trafficked from one city to another, sexually abused for weeks, raped, sold, resold, till she reached Ajmer (Rajasthan), about 650km away from her hometown. This time, she was bought for Rs 3.5 lakh by a man, Vishnu Mali, who was looking for a "young bride".
Excited at wedding prospects, the Ajmer-based man flooded his social media with photographs alongside the girl. That's when luck turned for the distraught teenager. The posts reached Mainpuri and someone recognised her as the girl who went missing, months ago. Police got into action and Mali was picked up by cops in Rajasthan. The girl has now been brought back to Mainpuri.
"We reached a breakthrough after a thorough probe, which included scanning social media account of the accused. It came to light that a man named Neeraj handed over the girl to Mali in Ajmer. The accused persons were booked under BNS sections for rape, abduction, human trafficking, along with Pocso Act. He was arrested, presented before a court in Mainpuri on Thursday and sent to jail," a cop, privy to the case, said on Friday.
In her statement, the girl narrated her harrowing experience. "I was abducted by Neeraj, a man from a neighbouring village. From there, I was moved to Etawah where I was drugged, raped, and sold to Ravi and Bobby in Agra. It was like hell. I realised I had fallen into the wrong hands. The duo later trafficked me to Ajmer, where I was sold by one Asha Jain. She then arranged a forced marriage to Mali," she said.
Mali's family told police they "bought the bride" as they were struggling to find a "suitable girl" for him. Back in Mainpuri, the girl's parents desperately looked for her across district for days & appealed to police for help.
Mainpuri SP (rural) Anil Kumar said, "A case of kidnapping was initially registered. We are now investigating the case in detail and legal action will be taken against all those responsible for the girl's harrowing ordeal."