A 25-year-old woman has filed a case with Uttar Pradesh Police against a man who raped her and was forced to marry due to pressure from elders as she had given birth to a child. The man later sold the child to a couple for Rs 25,000. The man also divorced her and forced her to marry a middle-aged man with seven kids. Her ordeal has been at least three years long, she claims.
The woman said that she was introduced to Shavez, a trader of embroidery work, as she was an artisan. Their friendship had then developed to a physical relationship as the man guaranteed to marry her. Later, he went back on his word. The two were married off as she had given birth to a child.
"The charges levelled by the rape survivor are grave and we will make sure that the matter is probed by a woman circle officer and all angles are investigated," a police officer was quoted as saying by the Times of India.
"It all started in 2013 when I got in touch with Shavez who was a trader of embroidery work. I was working as zari artisan and he used to frequent my house. He got into a physical relationship with me on the assurance of marriage. But once I got pregnant, he started threatening me of dire consequences if I narrated my ordeal to anyone or approached police for help," the woman told TOI.
Shavez later divorced her and forced her to marry an older man. She escaped from him somehow, she said.
The woman filed a complaint at Prem Nagar police station in June 2015 and Shavez was charged under section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code. Shavez and his family later agreed to settle the matter as they did not want police' involvement. But, Shavez went back on his word after the final report was filed.
"I have been suffering for the past three years and want this ordeal to end. I want Shavez and his family to be booked for making me suffer and my child be returned to me," she said, after filing her complaint with the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Bareilly district.
