PUNE: A 17-year-old Hindu girl from Ludhiana, who went missing in August 2025 after leaving home for school, was traced nearly a year later in Pune, where she was found with a 22-year-old man. The case involves Love Jihad, with police registering a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Act.
Shivkumar Rawat is a tailor in Ludhiana.
On 14 August 2025 his 17-year-old daughter left home saying she was going to school in Ludhiana and did not return. The father filed a missing-person complaint at Sarabha Nagar police station, Ludhiana. She could not be traced then.… pic.twitter.com/SYpr8fBW8W
— SK Chakraborty (@sanjoychakra) October 4, 2026
The girl, daughter of Ludhiana-based tailor Shivkumar Rawat, had left home on August 14, 2025, telling her family that she was going to school. When she did not return, her father approached the Sarabha Nagar police station in Ludhiana and filed a missing-person complaint. Despite efforts to trace her, she could not initially be located.
Girl contacts family from Pune
A breakthrough came on July 30, 2026, when the girl contacted her mother through her phone. She reportedly told her family that she was in Pune with Mohammad Rais Rafiq Sheikh and shared her location with them.
The location was traced to the Handewadi Road area in Phursungi, Pune. Following the information, the girl’s father and uncle travelled to Maharashtra. The case subsequently came to be reported as Love Jihad after the girl reportedly told her family about pressure to change her religion for marriage.
On August 4, they approached the Phursungi police station. Police subsequently brought the girl and Sheikh to the station, where the girl’s statement was recorded as part of the investigation.
Girl reportedly taken across several States
According to reports, Sheikh, originally from the Firozpur area of Malihabad in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, had taken the girl from Punjab to Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh and later to Kolar in Karnataka.
The two eventually reached Pune and had reportedly been staying in the Handewadi area for around two months before the girl’s family located her. The movement of the minor across several States forms part of the circumstances being investigated in the Love Jihad case.
The girl’s family has said that Sheikh had promised to help her continue her education. According to the complaint, she also told her family that he had established a physical relationship with her against her will and had told her that she would have to change her religion if she wanted to marry him.
Case registered under POCSO and anti-conversion law
Following the girl’s recovery, Phursungi police registered a case against Sheikh under relevant provisions of the POCSO Act and the Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Act. The case has brought the Love Jihad, sexual exploitation and religious-conversion pressure under investigation.
As the girl was a minor at the time of the reported incidents, the case involves provisions of child-protection law. Police and the investigating authorities will determine the circumstances surrounding her disappearance, movement between different States, and the allegations made against the accused. The girl was also reportedly subjected to a medical examination and placed under the care of the appropriate juvenile authorities following her recovery.
