Bhadohi (UP), March 11 A 16-year-old girl was allegedly abducted by a truck driver in November last year. Fearing social stigma, her father, the village head, did not inform the police about the alleged crime until Tuesday.
He filed a complaint against Jitendra Kumar Saroj (35), a truck driver by profession and a resident of Samalkot village in the same police station area.
According to police, the minor girl, a Class 11 student and daughter of a village head under the Chauri police station area, had left home for school on November 26 last year.
When she did not return home, her family began looking for her on their own and found out that she had not even reached the school that day.
Police said that after months of searching, the village head lodged a complaint against Saroj only on Tuesday. They said that the social stigma surrounding the abduction of their teenage daughter prevented them from approaching the police initially.
Chauri police station SHO Ram Sarikh Gautam said on Wednesday that a case has been registered based on the complaint of the girl's father under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Police teams conducted a raid at the accused's residence but could not find anyone except for his elderly mother, Gautam said.
The officer said that Saroj works as a truck driver for a transport company and had come to the area on the day of the incident.
Some relatives of the village head had reportedly seen him in his truck with a teenage girl that day.
Gautam said that police are working with the transport company where the accused is employed to trace him and recover the minor girl.