A 12-year-old on Sunday filed a police complaint here after escaping from a folk dance centre, where she had been repeatedly raped after allegedly being sold by her mother for Rs. 1 lakh. Shweta (name changed) was assisted by NGO Astitva Mahila Sanghatana (AMS), the complainant in the case.
A case of rape, abduction and wrongful confinement has been registered against the girl’s mother, the owner of the dance centre and the two men who allegedly bought her. No arrests had been made till Tuesday evening.
Sold and harassed
The girl, who hails from Beed in Maharashtra, was sold by her mother in May, according to a statement made to the police by Aparna Dubey of the AMS.
“Shweta had come home for summer holidays from her residential school. One day, three men entered the house in her mother’s absence. One of them raped her and told her that she had been sold,” Ms. Dubey told The Hindu on Tuesday. Shweta was then brought to the Trimurti Tamasha Kala Kendra (TTKK), a centre for folk dance. “She was raped there too and forced to dance in front of men. When she refused, she was harassed.”
Ms. Dubey was informed about Shweta’s plight by the police, who were tipped off by her teacher, with whom the seventh-standard student had managed to make contact.
“We told her to come to the Pune railway station and met her there. She has displayed immense courage at this age,” Ms. Dubey said. Shweta is currently in police custody, and the AMS will seek her custody after the initial investigation is over, she said.
In April, The Hindu had reported about a similar case in the north Maharashtra district of Dhule (http://bit.ly/16Udk9h).
