The 61-year-old Syed Althaf Ali, who lives in Mumbai, had made several visits to Hyderabad to finalise the deal to purchase a 14-year-old girl. The deal was finalised for three lakh rupees.
Mumbai: The Mumbai police arrested 61-year-old Syed Althaf Ali from Hyderabad for trying to purchase a 14-year-old girl. The victim’s mother and grandmother, along with several other members of a trafficking syndicate, have been arrested by the police.
Syed Althaf Ali, who divorced his wife six years back, was looking for someone who could take ‘care’ of him. Some of his friends in Mumbai introduced him to auto driver Akeel Ahmed from Balapur, who helped him find the minor girl.
The police now suspect that these people were running a trafficking racket and are involved in many other such crimes.
Akeel and his friends had offered five lakh rupees to the victim’s mother and grandmother but the deal did not go through as Ali was willing to pay only three lakh rupees.
After much persuasion, finally the deal went through. When Ali went to Telangana to deliver the money, the Mumbai police arrested him along with victim’s mother and grandmother. Police have arrested eight people in the case so far.
All the accused were booked under IPC sections 370, 370 (A) (read with) 511, Section 17 of the POCSO Act and Section 3&5 of Immoral Traffic Prevention Act.
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, was enacted “to protect the children from offences of sexual assault, harassment and pornography, while safeguarding the interests of the child at every stage of the judicial process by incorporating child-friendly mechanisms for reporting, recording of evidence, investigation and speedy trial of offences through designated special courts”.
It was amended in 2019 to make it more stringent to deter the abusers.
Hyderabad has been infamous for this practice of buying/selling child brides. It is also a hot destination for Gulf sheikhs to purchase brides.
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