A 22-year-old Muslim man has been booked under charges of Protection of Children from Sexual Offense (POCSO) in Pune for abducting a minor Hindu girl. He and his family kept the minor in their captivity for as long as four years. The minor was recovered on May 16 and the accused is also under police custody.
The minor girl was abducted back in 2019 when she was just 16 years old by Javed Sheikh. Now after four years, she has been rescued. In this period the minor was raped and assaulted by the accused multiple times. She has burn marks all over her body and also underwent conversion-nikah.
A First Information Report in the case following the victim’s recovery on May 16 was filed at the Manchar police station of the Pune district. Another complaint (number–145/2019) was lodged by the victim’s father when she went missing 2019 at the Manchar police station on March 23, 2019.
As per the FIR the accused has been booked under IPC sections 376 (rape), 363 (abduction) and 4, 6, 8, 10 of the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offense Act (POCSO).
As per the complaint letter as translated by the OpIndia journalist Siddhi Somani, the victim’s family informed the police that, in 2019 the victim went to take her class 10 board examinations but did not return from the exam. The father of the girl then immediately filed a missing person complaint against an ‘unidentified person’ and claimed that his daughter was kidnapped.
Notably, days and months passed but the police failed to recover the girl. The victim’s family wrote to multiple administration officials and concerned departments regarding their daughter’s recovery but to avail, as no response was given. With time and keeping up with the victim’s friends the family found that their daughter was kidnapped by a Muslim man named Javed Sheikh after luring her into a fake love trap.
With no respite from the administration, the victim’s family took up the charge and they started tracking the accused and his family. Recently, the victim’s brother and his friends tracked Javed in Manchar area and they began searching the place for their sister. They met the locals and questioned them, the boys ultimately located the girl and rescued them on their own.
On May 16, the woman returned home she said, she was brutally treated and assaulted by Javed and his family members. She also said that she was raped and was kept hostage for months in an apartment.
As quoted in a video the victim said, “I was beaten by his mother, aunt and other family members had tortured me. They kept me, hostage, for months and also assaulted me with lit cigarettes,”
The girl has been diagnosed with severe depression and is scared even to be around people including her family members. She has been raped and converted to Islam against her wishes.
As per the Nikahnama shared by the victim, she was married to Javed in December 2020. Javed forged the age to the minor as 18 years old and himself as 21. However, her Aadhar card shows her birth year as 2002 and Javed was just 19, he has to be 21 to get married legally.
In a video shared by the local Hindu activists, the victim can be seen saying, “They tortured me. Hit me. Abused me with lit cigarettes. His family members assaulted me. They kept me, hostage, for months. They established sexual relations with me without my will. Asma, Javed, his mother, and grandmother thrashed me,”
The police told the media that they have arrested the accused Javed. API Bhalekar of the Manchar Police Station said that the accused was arrested on May 17.
“The recent FIR in the case was filed on May 20. But the accused has been arrested on May 17. This is an old case from the year 2019 and the girl has been rescued. We request to please not make public the identity of the victim. Further investigations are underway,” he said.
