PALANPUR: Minor girl who was sold off twice — once at 13 years and then at 14 — by her father and maternal uncle in the garb of marriage could finally break free from the vicious cycle of agony that she had landed in.
It could happen because the 17-year-old girl could call up Abhayam helpline in Palanpur last week.
Abhayam finally rescued the minor around four to five days back and took her paternal uncle’s house at Dantiwada, some 15km from Palanpur.
“The girl was brought from Dantiwada on Wednesday to Palanpur and is being given shelter in the Nari Sanrakshan Kendra,” Aniket Thakar, CWC chairman told TOI.
In her statement recorded with the CWC, the girl said that her mother had deserted when she was a child.
Her father along with maternal uncle kept selling her on the pretext of marriage.
She was first sold for Rs 60,000 by her father to a man who raped her repeatedly.
She was later retrieved by her maternal uncle and a year later he too sold her off once again for a similar amount to another 35-year-old man.
Here, she stayed for nearly three years but the torture was unending as she was subjected to repeated sexual assaults.
“I have written a letter to the police as well as other agencies to look into the matter.
This is a crime not just against the girl but humanity at large.
Both the uncle and her father, besides all those connected with the trafficking should be given a deserving punishment,” Thakar added.