Abduction of ‘Girl No. 166’: Accused woman denied bail, ‘allegations serious’ says court

The girl — known as “Girl No. 166” owing to being the only one out of 166 missing girls to remain untraced by DN Nagar police station’s assistant sub-inspector Rajendra Bhosle’s team between 2008 and 2015 — was reunited with her family in September 2022.

The police had registered offences including kidnapping and trafficking of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015.

Police had claimed she was abducted by the couple, who wanted a child of their own, but she was held in captivity and suffered beating by them. According to police, after the couple had a child of their own, the girl was made to do household chores .

Police had filed a chargesheet against the couple last year which included the girl’s statement. “She has given details of the actions of the accused persons. It appears that from 2013 till 2022 the accused confined her in the house…

Even after accused no. 2 (Soni) gave birth to a girl child, she continued to harass her. The statement of the victim is clear that the accused were compelling her to do all household work and baby-sitting. The victim specifically stated that the accused was taking money from her. Her statement shows that the accused were not allowing her to meet anybody,” the court order, denying them bail, passed last month states.

The court added that the allegations are serious in nature and the offences include a minimum punishment of ten years. It said that since the victim is known to the accused, there is also a possibility of her being threatened.

The court relied on the girl’s statement wherein she had given details about her being abducted and taken to various places including Goa and Karnataka.

The girl had said that on January 22, 2013, when she was walking to school with her brother, D’souza had approached her when her brother was a few steps ahead of her. She said that he had lured her with the promise of ice cream, then kidnapped her. The girl had also said that while initially the couple was good to her, after they had a child of their own in 2015, they would beat her with a belt, rolling pins and make her do household chores.
The trial in the case is yet to begin. The court is likely to frame charges against the accused next month.