Jagatsinghpur: The district Child Welfare Committee (CWC) Thursday handed over a minor girl to her parents. The girl was earlier rescued from a brothel in the Capital city. Acting on a tip-off, Lingaraj police in Bhubaneswar had busted a sex racket and rescued the girl.
Preliminary investigation revealed the girl was forced into prostitution by her relative, police said. The accused was identified as Nari Sahu, a relative of the girl from Dhenkanal.
According to sources, the girl belonged to a below poverty line family on the outskirts of Kujang in Jagatsinghpur district. Nari approached the girl’s parents on the pretext of providing her a job in Bhubaneswar. He promised them of high wages and brought the girl with him.
Later, he took the girl and kept her locked inside a house under Lingaraj police limits in Bhubaneswar where he forced her into prostitution. He barred her from going out of the house and mostly kept her locked inside the house. He brought customers to the house where they raped the girl. The heinous crime continued for a month until locals suspected the activities of Nari and alerted local police.
The matter came to the fore after police conducted a raid August 21 and rescued the minor girl. Police also rescued two women from the brothel. Later, the girl was handed over to Khurda CWC who handed over the girl to Jagatsinghpur CWC. The district CWC officials along with advocate Debadatt Sahu approached the girl’s parents Thursday and handed her over to them.
The girl’s parents narrated their ordeal and claimed they had sent the girl with Nari and they were unaware of Nari’s evil designs. After learning their daughter’s plight, they had lodged a written complaint with local police. No steps were taken by police in the regard, they claimed.
Later, advocate Sahu and officials approached local police station and lodged a written complaint in this connection. PNN