Minor refuses to join flesh trade, arrested

13-year-old Dalit girl and her mother falsely implicated

A 13-year old Dalit girl in the industrial town of Kanpur was arrested along with her mother after an owner of a beauty parlour alleged that the minor had stolen valuables from her house.

The girl, on the other hand, alleged that the parlour owner wanted to push her into flesh trade and on her refusal got her arrested on trumped up theft charges. The matter came to light when the girl was produced before a juvenile court a couple of days back. She told the court that the owner of the parlour had exerted pressure on her to ‘please’ customers.

“She (parlour owner) had offered me Rs 50 for doing the dirty work but I refused...she then threatened that she will get me arrested and I will rot in the jail,” the girl said.

Incidently, the police arrested the girl and her mother on theft charges on the basis of a report lodged by the parlour owner Shalini Gujral, who alleged that she had stolen the valuables about two months back.

Surprisingly, the police did not bother to find out as to why the report had been lodged two months after the incident.  They also showed the girl a major in their register, sources revealed. She was later released on bail but her mother continues to languish in the jail.

Taking a serious view of the matter the government has suspended the station house officer and ordered an inquiry into the matter. A case under the dalit act has also been registered against the parlour owner.

The incident comes in the wake of the infamous Banda rape case where a minor was raped by a BSP MLA, who later, in collusion with the police, got the girl arrested on theft charges after she threatened to expose him.