Nagpur: The Koradi police arrested Umesh Kumar Shahu on Monday for his alleged role in bringing a 15-year-old minor girl from Jharkhand by paying money to her parents to work as a domestic help at his place in Ramnath city in Koradi. Shahu's wife Manju was made a co-accused in the case, which was registered following the joint rescue operation by the police, Childline, and the Department of Women and Child Development.
The girl was brought to Nagpur via Raipur on August 15 this year.
The minor, who has now been shifted to the govt shelter home, was produced before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) headed by chairperson Chhaya Gurav on Monday. The CWC has instructed cops to contemplate invoking the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and and any other stringent sections of law against the couple in the matter.
The committee has also issued an instruction for ‘special care and attention' of the survivor.
Cops from Koradi police station tried to contact the family of the girl in Jharkhand and also the middleman who executed procurement of the minor in exchange for cash. In her statement to police, the girl mentioned that Shahu paid money to her parents for bringing her to Nagpur via Raipur. She was spotted by an alert citizen who then alerted the police. Zonal DCP Niketan Kadam, in coordination with the District Child Protection Officer Mushtaq Pathan, was instrumental in rescuing the girl.
Senior inspector Praveen Pande of the Koradi police station stated that a team would soon leave for Jharkhand to meet the girl's family and collect related documents. "The caste certificate of the survivor will be sought and assessed for increasing the legal provisions," said Pande adding the case is being meticulously probed.
"The accused family already had a couple of helpers, yet they procured a minor girl to work at their home," he said.