Odisha woman trafficked and married off to Rajasthan man rescued

By Swagatika Bhutia

Bhubaneswar, April 16: Odisha police has rescued a married woman who was allegedly sold for Rs 1.5 lakh in Rajasthan. Five persons have been arrested in connection with the incident, the police said on Saturday.

The victim was rescued from Neemuch district in Madhya Pradesh.

According to police, the victim who was already married was allegedly trafficked from Jharsuguda by a woman and two of her associates to Rajasthan. Later, she was married off to a man identified as Manoj Prajapati against her will.

“On April 7, we received a complaint that some people had taken away a girl from Jharsuguda to Rajasthan where she was married off to a local man against her will,” said Jharsuguda superintendent of police (SP) Bikash Chandra Dash.

According to Dash, two special teams were subsequently formed to carry out a detailed probe into the incident. One team was sent to Neemuch and another team carried out the probe in Rajasthan.

It is alleged that the broker named Supriya Prajapati had coaxed the victim who had left her home following a quarrel with her husband.

Senior police officials said three persons- Hrusikesh Sethi, Kiran Sethi and Danishi of Jharsuguda were arrested on April 7. Later, the broker Supriya alias Rajni and Manoj Prajapati were arrested on April 13.

“I married the girl as per our tradition. I had paid Rs 1.5 lakh to the mediators as they demanded the amount saying that it was a token of respect as per the local tradition. I was not aware that the woman was already married and had a child. Nor did I know that the mediators were human-traffickers. I will try to prove my innocence in the court of law,” said Manoj Prajapati.