Imteyaz, Moin and two others abducted two minor girls from their house saying will return them back in 12 hours on March 11 in Uttar Pradesh. Almost after a week, the girls were recovered from Telangana safely by the police teams. On returning home the girls told Organiser Weekly that Moin and Imteyaz wanted to have ‘Conversion–Nikah’ with them. They made sexual relations with the minors against their wishes and have been booked under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offense (POCSO) Act.
As per the FIR the accused forcefully took the minors
A First Information Report (number–48/2023) was registered at the Ranipur police station of the Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh on March 12. As per the victim’s father Kali Prasad, the accused Moin Ali son of Hasan Ali, Imteyaz son of Razzak, Waseem alias Chotkau son of Musibat Ali and Guja son of Musibat Ali abducted two of his daughters from their house on March 11.
Prasad told the police that, all the accused are the residents of Gadh Jiginya Mahipal Singh village. On March 11, his daughter 16-year-old Sunita (name changed to protect her identity) and granddaughter 15-year-old Rupali (name changed to protect her identity) went out for defecation around 7 pm near the house. The accused were waiting for them and abducted the minor girls from the fields.
Prasad was not at home when they took away his daughters, the youngest granddaughter 7-year-old Rani (name changed) told him about the incident, that how the accused forcefully took them in a four-wheeler. The next day when Prasad returned from a wedding he met Moin and inquired about his daughter who said, they will return by the evening.
This complaint was registered on the same day when Prasad returned from the wedding.
The accused had sexually assaulted the minors
This correspondent called the Station House Officer (SHO) Ranipur, Shivnath Gupta on March 25. He said, as soon as the complaint was registered the police teams started tracking the minor girls and the accused.
On March 17, they recovered the girls from Telangana and arrested Imteyaz, Waseem and Guja from there. They arrested Moin the next day from the Ranipur police station area.
He added, the minor girls recorded their statements under section 164 of the IPC on March 20 and after their statements, further sections of the IPC were invoked against the culprits.
As per the FIR the accused have been booked under IPC section 364 (kidnapping) and after the 164 statement section 376 (rape) of the IPC with 3 / 4 of the POCSO Act were imposed against the accused.
The accused wanted to have ‘Conversion–Nikah’ with them
This correspondent called Kali Prasad on March 15 and he said that the police teams are tacking the girls as Imtiyaz and other took them away.
Kali Prasad who works as a labourer and remains out for work belongs to the Vishwakarma (Badhai he said) caste which falls under the OBC category.
When his youngest granddaughter Rani told him about the kidnappers, he confronted Moin who was still in the village and he said, the girls will return back home in 12 hours, till then don’t tell the police. The same night one of Imtiyaz’s family members came to his house and threatened him saying, “I will get your daughters converted to Islam and will marry them with my daughters”.
Seven-year-old rani told this correspondent that, “That day we were going towards the field to get fodder for the cattle. My sisters were walking ahead and I was following them as I had a goat with me. Imteyaz and Chutkau in held my sisters by hand and threw them into the vehicle in front of me. When my sisters started shouting they tied their mouth and ran away”.
She added, “When I started shouting for help, they threatened me and said, If I will not stop shouting they will take me with them”.
Rani returned home and tell everything to her mother and grandmother.
This correspondent spoke to Sunita and Rupali on March 22, when they returned home.
Sunita told this correspondent that, they were never in touch with the accused before they kidnapped them. These boys took them to Lucknow in a four-wheeler from where they took them to Delhi in a bus. Then they boarded another bus to Rajasthan from where they took a train to Hyderabad. From Hyderabad, they took them to Karimnagar city of Telangana.
Asked why did they not shout when the accused took them in public transport, she said, they gave them death threats in case they dare to tell anyone.
Rupali said, all of them including Chotkau and Imteyaz live in the same colony, their house is in the same lane, three-four house ahead, she said.
Asked if they were following them or stalking them, she said, no.
“They were talking that Imteyaz and Chotkau will have ‘Nikah’ with both of us” said Rupali.
Where did they take you in Karim Nagar, asked this correspondent.
Rupali said, “They took us to a room, they asked us to stay there and be quite. One of them always stayed with us. They would give us food, tie us with a piece of cloth and asked to stay quite.”
Asked if they did anything wrong with them, Rupali said nothing so did Sunita.
Asked if they liked the boys, they said nothing.
One of their aunt (bua) told this correspondent that, these accused raped the minor girls in Telangana. The police found this in the medical tests and the girls also told them. There were scratch marks on their bodies, their clothes had blood stains. It was all forceful.
She added these boys deserve to be hanged.
“Look at their (Muslims) people, even after taking our daughters they are threatening us as if we committed the crime” added Sunia’s Aunt.
Sunita told this correspondent that the village they live in has Hindu families in minority, there are just 10 to 12 Hindu houses and the rest belongs to the Muslims.
Both Sunita and Rupali are school dropouts and mostly stay at home. Now that they have returned Kali Prasad told this correspondent that he will marry Sunita after she turns 21. They fixed her marriage last year with a man from their community, he says the family is kind enough that they have not broken the alliance till now.
Rupali lives with her family, next to Sunita’s house. They are too young to understand what had happened to them. Rupali said, “Mam, our family members said nothing to us when we returned”. This correspondent told them that it was not their fault and they should not blame themselves for it.
Both the girls are living in terror as they barely speak on call. Imteyaz, Chotkau, Moin and Guja took away their innocence and childhood. With sections of POCSO imposed, we can expect that the judgement will come soon and the case will have a fast-track trail.
