I Bought Her for ₹6.3 Lakh: Man Arrested for Sexually Abusing a Minor after ‘Marrying’ Her

On Saturday night, a teenager staggered into the Santosh Bhavan police station in Nallasopara, and revealed that she had been kept captive and subjected to repeated sexual assaults by a man since their “marriage” in September last year. Reported by Mumbai Mirror, it was discovered that the young girl, who is originally from Rangam village in Rajasthan's Pali district, was bought by a 35-year-old man named Lachharam Kriparam Chaudhary for ₹6.3 lakh.

The young girl, who was passed off as a 20-year-old but is only 14, lived with her stepmother Shanti, and her two stepbrothers after her father passed away. Shanti had traded the teenager within Rajasthan earlier, once for ₹50,000, and then for ₹5.8 lakh. To ensure that there were no legal issues, Shanti got a fake affidavit which said that the girl was 20 years old, and then let Chaudhary “marry” her in September. The couple then moved to Santosh Bhavan in Nallasopara, where Chaudhary started a grocery shop.

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Not only did Chaudhary repeatedly sexually abuse her, he kept her locked in a small room. On Saturday, she overheard him talking to someone about selling her for ₹15 lakh, which gave her the impetus she needed to escape and go to the police. The police acted immediately on her complaint, and arrested Chaudhary on the charges of buying, marrying, and brutalising a minor. The police suspect that he could be part of a bigger racket of human trafficking. He has been booked under Sections 376 (rape), 366A (procuring a minor girl), 342 (wrongful confinement), 372 (selling a minor for prostitution), 373 (buying a minor for prostitution), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 34 (common intent) and Sections 4, 8, and 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO).

The police interviewed Chaudhary, who told them that minors are sold pretty regularly as “spouses” within Rajasthan, and then sold off again in other states.

“Some stay married, while many resell their child-wives for a good sum. I had also purchased her for ₹6.3 lakh and then married her.”

The practice of creating fake affidavits to increase minors' ages is also very regular, he said.

The girl was sent to JJ Hospital for a medical investigation, where it was confirmed that she is 14 years old. Inspector Kailash Barve of Tulinj police station said to Mumbai Mirror, “Reports from JJ Hospital have confirmed that the minor's age is 14 years. We have arrested her husband and booked him for rape under various provisions of the law... We'll be sending a team to nab the minor's stepmother and parents of the accused.”

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