Thane, March 16 A 15-year-old tribal girl was allegedly abducted from Bhiwandi in the Thane district and "sold" to a man under the guise of marriage in the Beed district in the Marathwada region, leading to the registration of a case against her "husband" and five others, police said on Monday.
"The victim was exploited due to her extreme poverty and the absence of her parents. She was allegedly abducted on February 26 by a broker and his associates who promised her a better life through marriage, only to sell her to an older man in Patoda, Beed," a Thane rural police official said.
The minor was allegedly forced into an illegal marriage on February 27 after being threatened. Between February 27 and March 10, her "husband", Bhausaheb Tambe, allegedly kept her locked in a farm shed and raped her, the FIR stated.
As the girl did not have access to a mobile phone, she remained confined until she was eventually tracked down by a relative, the official added.
The ordeal came to light after the girl escaped and narrated her trauma to activists of Shramjeevi Sanghatana, who helped her lodge a case.
The Padgha Police have booked the main accused, Tambe, mediator Vilas Hillam, and others under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and the Prevention of Child Marriage Act.
"Sections 64(M) and 65(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) have also been applied," the official said, adding that the accused have not been arrested yet.