The Ludhiana police have booked eight individuals, including four women, for the systemic trafficking, forced marriage and aggravated sexual assault of a minor girl over a span of nearly one and a half decades. The action follows a Zero FIR transferred from the Haryana Police after the victim managed to escape her captors.Investigating officer, assistant sub-inspector Gurmeet Singh, stated that a formal case has been registered at the Jamalpur police station. (HT File)The accused have been identified as Sahil of Sonipat, his father Subhash, mother Phoolmati, and sister Meena. The other co-accused include Hariram of Dabwali, his wife Darshna, son Vikas, and daughter-in-law Rekha. According to the police complaint, the victim’s ordeal began in her infancy due to severe domestic discord. Her mother had separated from her father, an alcoholic, who forcibly retained custody of the victim and her sister. When the victim was just two years old, her father allegedly sold her to Hariram and his family in Dabwali, Haryana, in 2010. The family reportedly subjected the minor to years of physical and emotional mistreatment under the pretext of ownership. The exploitation escalated in November 2024 when the victim turned 16. Hariram’s family allegedly resold her to another family in Dabwali, who subsequently forced her into a child marriage with their son, Sahil.Following the wedding, she was moved to the Jamalpur area of Ludhiana, where Sahil repeatedly subjected her to forced sexual relations. Whenever the victim objected, the accused family allegedly intimidated her. The victim remained in wrongful confinement until May 22, 2025, when she successfully fled from their custody and reached her mother’s residence in Bhiwani, Haryana. She subsequently gave birth to a child resulting from the assault.The breakthrough in the case came after the accused traced her and attempted to coerce her into returning to Ludhiana. When she resisted, they resorted to criminal intimidation, prompting the victim to approach the Women Police Station in Bhiwani on May 29 this year. The Haryana Police registered a Zero FIR and forwarded the case diary to Ludhiana police for territorial jurisdiction.Investigating officer, assistant sub-inspector Gurmeet Singh, stated that a formal case has been registered at the Jamalpur police station. The accused have been booked under Sections 6 and 17 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, alongside Sections 9, 10, and 11 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act. “We have also invoked Sections 127(4) (wrongful confinement), 351(3) (criminal intimidation), 65(1) (rape of a woman under 16 years of age), and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against the accused,” ASI Singh said, adding that police teams are conducting raids across Haryana and Ludhiana to arrest the absconding accused.