A girl studying in the 12th grade who had eloped with a Muslim man only to get trapped in prostitution, managed to trick her abductor and return home, Bengali-language daily newspaper of The Times Group Ei Samay has reported.

The girl, hailing from Kaliachak under Malda district of West Bengal, used to meet Rahman Momin on her way to school. Momin slowly won her confidence by listening patiently to her family issues, and the two decided to elope & marry on February 19.

At first, Momin took the girl to Malda and then to Balurghat – the headquarters (sadar) of the Dakshin Dinajpur district of West Bengal.  Finally, he took her to a tiny hotel near Guwahati, Assam on the pretext of seeking work. The girl was blissfully unaware of what was to follow till then.

On the first night in the Guwahati hotel, Momin sent an unknown man to the girl’s room. When the girl refused to become a sex worker, he slashed her with a blade. Under threat to her life, the girl got pushed into prostitution, but decided to bide her time. She behaved well with customers to gain Momin’s trust. She made a phone call to her family using Momin’s mobile phone in front of him and lied that they are both well and had tied the knot.

Then the brave girl made a phone call behind Momin’s back and told the horrific truth to her family. Later, she told Momin that her family had willingly agreed to accept them both and wanted to marry her off to him with a dowry. Momin got lured by the promise of dowry and they returned back to Kaliachak.

Momin wanted to go to his home first, and the girl did not oppose. Next day, the girl took him to her home on the pretext of discussing their marriage plans. Her family and co- villagers were lying in wait. As soon as Momin entered the girl’s house, they caught hold of him and gave him a sound thrashing. Momin pleaded guilty and was handed over to police.

“Many SIM cards and six mobile phones have been recovered from him” said police. Rahman Momin has been charged with woman trafficking. The girl said that she knew the great risk to her life if Momin had found out about her plan, but it was the only hope she had.

Editor’s Note

Malda is a Muslim majority district with 51.27% Muslim population as per Census 2011. Kaliachak in Malda saw massive rioting against BSF, police and local Hindus in Jan 2016 over Kamlesh Tiwari’s alleged blasphemous remarks against Islam. Incidentally, it was a Love Jihad charge against a Muslim labourer from Malda that led to the heinous murder of another migrant labourer from Malda working in Rajasthan’s Rajsamand.

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