Falak case: Father of teenaged girl, two others arrested

New Delhi: The father of a teenaged girl, who got a battered two-year-old admitted in AIIMS, and two others were arrested here on charges of abandoning her and forcing her into prostitution even as police stepped up efforts to trace a youth with whom the girl was staying.

The 15-year-old girl was in news after she brought baby Falak, who was allegedly beaten up by her, to AIIMS for treatment claiming that she was her mother. Alleging that her father used to physically torture her, the girl had eloped from home and later met Rajkumar, who entrusted the girl with Falak two months ago.

"We have arrested three persons -- her father and a couple, who forced her into prostitution. The father has been charged for cruelty and abandoning her while the couple were charged with forcing her into flesh trade," Ajay Choudhry, Additional Commissioner of Police (South-East), told reporters here.

The arrested have been identified as Jitender Gupta, her father, and the couple Sandeep Pandey and Pooja.

A senior police official said they have stepped up efforts to trace Rajkumar.

The girl was sexually abused by several men. Pooja had taken her to Etah in Uttar Pradesh where she was allegedly forced to marry an old man.

"When she refused to do this she was raped allegedly by Sandeep, Pooja's husband. After this, the girl was again brought to Delhi by Pooja and Sandeep and was kept at her house in Tughlakabad, where she was again sexually exploited by Sandeep repeatedly," Choudhry said.

The arrests came following instructions from Child Welfare Committee, which is looking into the case of the teenaged girl, that a case of cruelty and abuse be registered against her father and a separate case against four persons who allegedly sexually abused her.