DCW rescues teenage girl trafficked from Jharkhand years ago

New Delhi, Sep 6 (IANS) The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has rescued a teenage girl, a resident of Jharkhand, from New Rajinder Nagar area here. The girl has recounted her ordeal of rape by several men and even an attempted rape over the past few years.

“The girl, aged around 16-17, was trafficked from Jharkhand when she was nine. The Commission’s 181 helpline received a call from the girl’s father that he had been looking for his daughter taken from Jharakhand many years back and that he knew her present location,” the Commission said in a statement.

A DCW team contacted the complainant in Moti Nagar area, after which he disclosed that the teenager was living with a woman named Neelam.

After he guided the DCW team to Neelam, she revealed that she’d brought the girl from Rohini’s Sector 11 a few days ago but sent her to an NGO’s shelter. Neelam was initially hesitant in sharing the details but relented later. The DCW team reached the said address, only to find it was the residence of a lawyer.

The team then met the lawyer and asked her about the girl’s whereabouts. The lawyer said that Neelam had brought the girl to her place, and that she had counselled her. The lawyer claimed that the teenager had informed her about rape with her as well.

She too said that the girl was now living in a shelter run by an NGO.

“The team went to the given address in New Rajinder Nagar and found that the girl was actually working as a domestic help at a private house, and was not lodged at the shelter,” a DCW statement read.

The girl was rescued and taken to the Rajinder Nagar police station and counselled by the DCW team.

The teenager said that a person from her village had lured her to Delhi some years ago. She was sold off to a trafficker named Champa, who was involved in her rape by several men. She was able to recount the names of some of the men.

The girl was later sold off to a family in Punjabi Bagh, where she worked as a domestic help for several years. She said that she was raped by a man named Shubham there. After this, she was sent to a house in Rohini’s Sector 11. A placement agent named Joseph also attempted to rape her, she said.

The girl was unable to recognise her father and didn’t want to accompany him. The girl was taken for a medical examination and then shifted to a shelter home.

An FIR was registered at the Rajinder Nagar police station under Sections 376, 376D, and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

DCW chief Swati Maliwal said: “We have been rescuing girls trafficked from Jharkhand almost every alternate day. It shows the gravity of problem of trafficking in our country.”

“I appeal to the Centre to make more stringent laws against trafficking and take other measures to regulate the functioning of private placement agencies. The perpetrators of such heinous crime need to be punished. We will ensure the girl’s rehabilitation,” Maliwal added.

–IANS

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