02 July,2016 09:37 AM IST | | Asif Rizvi
The girls took the drastic step after their parents refused to wait for a few years to get the eldest sister (17) married
Uunable to persuade her parents against marrying her off next year, a 17-year-old ran away with her two sisters - aged 15 and 16 - from their Mankhurd residence in the wee hours of June 27.
A police officer from Mankhurd police station said prima facie investigation revealed that the teenager's parents were in talks with her future in-laws to fix a marriage date for next year, after she turned 18. However, the girl was against it and was pleading with her parents to give her a few more years. But her parents refused to budge.
Early morning exit
In their complaint, the parents told the police that all three girls were awake in the wee hours of June 27. Upon inquiring, they told the parents that they were awake for Sehri (a pre-fast meal).
Parents said the last they saw the girls was around 4.30 am, before they and their four sons went to bed after Sehri. The girls took along just three pairs of clothes with them. The parents said none of the girls went to school, but supported the family by doing embroidery work on women's apparel.
Copspeak
"The girls had left the house by the time their parents woke up. After failing to locate them in the area, the parents decided to lodge a police complaint. We are currently trying to trace the girls by scrutinising footages recorded by CCTV cameras in the area. Investigation revealed that the family hails from Gulbarga in Karnataka and there is a possibility that the girls might have left for their hometown there, as that's the only place where they know people besides their Mankhurd residence," said a police officer.
Commenting on the case, Inspector Vijaysinh Bhosle from Mankhurd police station said, "As per the law in the case of missing minors, we have registered a case of under section 363 (kidnapping) of the IPC. We suspect that sisters accompanied the teenager because they assumed that they would be next in the line to be married off."
930
Number of Mumbai girls who went missing in 2015
919
Number of girls who were traced and reunited with their families
