A man named Saddam was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly kidnapping and raping a minor girl on the pretext of marriage from the town of Panipat. The 16-year-old girl was held in captivity for about 12 days where she was raped and forcibly fed meat by the accused’s sister. She was recovered by the police from Ambala Cantt on Tuesday morning.

A member of Women’s commission, Namrata Goud, reached the victim’s home and enquired about the incident with the victim and her family members. The victim, who is a class X student explained how Saddam used to frequent her house to meet her when her parents had gone to the factory for work. About 15 days ago, Saddam had gifted a mobile phone to the minor girl but it was eventually caught by her mother who smashed it by throwing it away. On July 19, Saddam lured her away to a hotel in Ambala on the pretext of marrying her. There he allegedly raped the minor girl.

After staying in the hotel for 3 days, she was taken by Saddam to his sister’s house. Saddam sister’s forced her to consume meat and threatened her that if she framed Saddam in any case, she wouldn’t spare the minor girl’s family members. The girl revealed that they were supposed to marry on Tuesday in Chandigarh but as Saddam had broken her trust and raped her, she no longer wished to go with him.

According to Advocate Manoj Sharma, Saddam owns a saloon in Azad Nagar. The girl was kidnapped by him on July 19. The relatives of the girl filed a complaint at Aath Marla police station. However, police registered a complaint of a missing person instead of kidnapping. Besides, Sharma accuses that the police turned the 16 years old minor girl into a 19 years old teenager. Following this, the Advocate forwarded his complaint to DGP, Chairperson of Women Commission, IG and SP. Namrata Gaur, a member of the Women’s Commission, reached the police station and accused the police of gross negligence. Gaur asserted that if police had acted from the day 1 itself, the minor would have been saved from getting raped by Saddam.

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The police in their response have arrested Saddam’s nephew Farman and Rahil Khan as well in this case. The police further advised the parents to care of their daughters. According to the police, the minor girl’s parents were already aware of the relation between Saddam and the girl. They could have been more forthcoming in revealing about the details, said police. The police had even stated that the victim’s father had earlier mentioned in his complaint that his daughter is 19 years old and it was only on July 28 that he revealed that she was a minor. A case has been registered under section 120-B and kidnapping and POSCO act has been added in the case.