Girl sold for Rs 2,000, raped on multiple occasions and is pregnant
TEAM HERALD
PORVORIM: In a shocking incident, a woman from Guirim who was entrusted to look after her 16-year-old granddaughter has been accused of selling off the minor girl for a paltry Rs 2,000 to two men from Bardez for prostitution activities.
The grandmother and the two men have been arrested by Mapusa police in this connection. The 16-year-old girl, who was found to have been sexually assaulted on multiple occasions and had become pregnant, initially reunited with her parents in Vengurla-Maharashtra and is now in Apna Ghar at Merces.
According to Mapusa police, the parents had sent their daughter to reside with her maternal grandmother at Guirim in January.
However, the girl went missing on February 7, but the grandmother did not immediately report the matter to the girl’s parents.
When the parents enquired about the well-being of their daughter, the grandmother then informed them that she had disappeared from her house.
After attempts to trace their daughter went futile, the parents filed a missing complaint at the Mapusa Police station on February 13.
The girl unexpectedly returned to her home in Vengurla on February 24 and the parents informed the Mapusa police that their daughter had returned home.
Suspecting something unusual in the matter, the Mapusa police asked the parents to bring their
daughter to the police station for an enquiry.
The parents and their daughter went to the Mapusa Police station on February 25, but the girl was unable to provide a satisfactory explanation regarding her disappearance and her unexpected return to her parent’s home.
The Mapusa police then sent the girl to the Apna Ghar at Merces and when authorities at Apna Ghar conducted a medical test, they found that the girl had been sexually assaulted and was found to be pregnant. They then alerted Mapusa police about these developments.
Since the girl was unwilling to cooperate with the police, the assistance of an NGO was sought by the Mapusa police.
The girl finally opened up to the NGO and revealed that two men, Simon Fernandes from Guirim and Sharad Salgaonker from Anjuna had raped her.
The two accused were then taken into custody and they divulged the shocking details that the girl’s grandmother had sold the girl to them for a meagre Rs 2,000 for the purpose of prostitution.
According to the police, the girl was in the custody of the two accused from February 7 till February 24. However, the girl managed to escape from the clutches of the duo and returned to Vengurla on February 24, where she reunited with her parents.
Mapusa police has arrested Fernandes, Salgaonker and the grandmother under Sections 363, 372, 373, 376, 354, Sections 4 and 5 of Immoral Trafficking Act and Section 8 (2) of Children’s Act. The three accused have been remanded to eight days in police custody.
