Minor raped and forced into prostitution, 2 held

BOKARO: Police on Saturday arrested two persons, including a woman, on charges of pushing a minor girl into prostitution and rape. The duo, police said, is also guilty of selling a baby born to the girl in February.
Police said the rape survivor belongs to a very poor family and is 18 years old now. One the accused, Tahir Hussain, raped her when she was a minor.Hussain along with the other accused, Usha Devi, had then drugged the minor girl and forced her into prostitution. An FIR has been lodged in this connection with women's police station.
The survivor told the police that Devi used to often visit her neighbour's house and knew about their penury. Officer in-charge of the women's police station, Sangeeta Kumari, told TOI, "The girl has four siblings and her father who runs a roadside eatery struggles to make ends meet. The accused had exploited their financial difficulty and convinced the girl's parents that she would educate and train her to become a beautician in return for her assistance in household chores."
Kumari further said, "The poverty-stricken girl's mother accepted the proposal and sent the girl to work at Devi's house. In her complaint, the girl has alleged that Devi gave a medicine to the girl saying that it is a vitamin tablet. After consuming it, the girl felt sleepy. She was then raped by a 50-year-old man. This became a daily ordeal for the girl. Devi used to drug her food and water every day and unknown men raped her when she was in a semi-conscious state."
The girl in her police complaint stated that sometimes she was forced to sleep with three to four men separately on a single day. After several months, when the girl complained of stomach pains and when Devi took her to a gynaecologist, she was found seven-month pregnant. Devi then asked her to abort the foetus but she refused.
"In February, the survivor delivered a girl child whom Devi sold to someone. We are tracking the person who bought the baby," Kumari said.
The girl then approached the women police station and lodged a complaint. "We have arrested Devi from her house in Sector-VIII and her associate Tahir Hussain of Jarangdih who had sexually exploited the girl. The survivor also said Devi and Hussain had brought another girl and they are also exploiting her and later became pregnant," Kumar added.
Devi and Hussain have been booked in under sections 376, 367 of IPC and sections 6 and 12 of POCSO Act.