Brother, sister-in-law booked for pushing teen into prostitution

Cops send victim, who is seven months pregnant, to Borivli correction home; search on for accused duo

Days after Chennai's child welfare committee (CWC) rescued a 16-year-old Vasai-based girl, who was allegedly forced into prostitution by her stepbrother and sister-in-law, the Virar police on Friday registered a case in the matter and booked the accused. Police sources said the girl, who was seven months pregnant, had been handed over to the Palghar district CWC.

Initially after the Virar police handed over the case to the Manikpur police, the latter found that she was a Vasai resident. When a team reached the location and spoke to her, she said her stepbrother and sister-in-law forced her into prostitution, and they used to send her to nearby guesthouses and hotels with unknown men daily.

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She further said that once they had even forced her to sleep with a man at their Vasai residence. However, when the cops tried to locate her home, they couldn't find it. Then they registered a case in the matter and transferred the case to the Virar police station on June 28 for further investigation.

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Speaking to mid-day, sub-inspector Ranjit Singh Pardesi, said, "The victim was not being able to speak properly. So based on whatever we understood of what she told us, a case has been registered against her brother and his wife under sections 370(a) (exploitation of a trafficked person) and 376(3) (punishment for rape — whoever commits rape on a woman under 16 years of age shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 20 years) of IPC and various sections of the POCSO Act. As the girl is pregnant, we have sent her to a correction home under the Borivli CWC. Search is on for the accused."

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