A 12-year-old girl who was allegedly trafficked from her village in Orissa on the pretext of marriage and sold off to some men who sexually assaulted her had escaped from them only to be raped again by two others. The girl was rescued by the Police on November 30 after a villager in Palwal, about 50 km from Gurgaon, spotted her lying in the field and took her to the local women’s police station. Four persons have been arrested who are in connection with this, police said.

According to the girl’s complaint, the Class VI student was trafficked from her village by one Suresh on the pretext of marrying her four months ago. Initially, the girl was confined at Suresh’s house in Chauma village, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh and was sold off a month later to some men in the same city for Rs.50, 000. They reportedly sexually exploited and physically abused her.

On November 29, the girl somehow managed to escape from her captors and reached the bus stand in Palwal at around 8 pm, when two men, later identified as Goverdhan and Jitender, came in an auto-rickshaw and forcibly pushed her inside into the vehicle, took her to a field and allegedly raped her. The duo then abandoned her in the fields, as stated by the girl.

The next morning, a villager noticed the girl lying unconscious in the field and took her to local Women’s Police Station in Palwal. A case was registered under various sections of IPC and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. She was later admitted to a shelter home.

The police have arrested the two persons who allegedly raped her and left her in the field, and are on the lookout for Suresh, who sold her and persons who ‘bought’ her, said sources.

Taking cognizance of the matter, Shaki Vahini, an NGO working in the area of child-trafficking, informed the matter to the Secretary of Home Department with the U.P government. “We have informed the Uttar Pradesh home department secretary about this and requested him to direct officers to conduct an extensive inter-state investigation — as the crime occurred in Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana — so that the well-organized trafficking syndicate may be busted,” said Rishikant of Shakti Vahini. Rishikant said the girl was in a child protection home and arrangements would be made to send her back to Odisha after verifying her address and family background.