4 held for bid to buy minor for marriage

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, January 25

The Jharkhand police have arrested four persons of Rewari district in Haryana for their attempt to buy a minor girl in Koderma district (Jharkhand) for the purpose of marriage. Four residents of Jharkhand have also been arrested.

“The arrests were made after a police team raided a house in Panchgaon village of Koderma district on Wednesday after a tip-off from locals,’’ said Sangeeta Kumari, Superintendent of Police (SP), Koderma district.

The arrested accused from Haryana are Vijay Pal, Vijay Singh, Suresh Kumar and Gomanand Sharma. They were trying to strike a deal to buy a minor girl of the village with the help of local agents there when the raid was conducted. The SP said the accused were trying to buy the minor girl for marriage with a 40-year-old man.

Meanwhile, Shakti Vahini, a local NGO involved in an anti-trafficking drive, has written to the police of Haryana and Jharkhand urging them to conduct a thorough probe into such cases. “We believe that organised trafficking of young girls from the other states to Haryana is rampant. Nothing concrete has been done to check this menace,’’ said Ravi Kant, the head of Shakti Vahini.

He said while Haryana was holding awareness programmes to save the girl child, it was shameful that some residents of the state were buying minor girls from other states to marry them.