Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A 17-year-old girl, who has endured a harrowing journey of sexual exploitation and abuse, is now recovering at the One Stop Centre (Sakhi) after being rescued by the Ashoka Garden police. The victim's ordeal began with sexual assault by her maternal uncle, followed by betrayal and exploitation by those she trusted.

The girl’s life took a tragic turn when her father abandoned the family, leaving her mother to raise her alone until her untimely death. At just 15 years old, the victim was sexually assaulted by her uncle, which marked the beginning of a series of traumatic experiences.

Fed up with the daily trauma, she ran away with an auto driver named Salman, who not only raped her but also sold her to a couple—Ashutosh Vajpai and Mahak Yadav—who operated a prostitution racket. Forced into a life of exploitation, the girl was compelled to engage in sex work, generating significant income for her captors.

After some time, she was sold to another associate, Nidhi Thakur, who continued to exploit her at another location. Ultimately, the victim was married off to Mithilesh Puraina in Ashok Nagar, with the gang concealing her age and receiving ?2 lakh for the transaction.

According to Additional DCP Zone-1 Rashmi Agarwal Dubey, the girl faced severe physical and mental abuse during these years, particularly when she resisted being forced into prostitution. Now placed in protective custody at the One Stop Centre, police are working on rehabilitation plans for her under various government schemes.

Authorities are also considering contacting other relatives to provide additional support if she chooses not to live with them. Case against 26 Police have registered a case of organised crime against 26 persons connected to the abduction, prostitution, and trafficking of the minor victim.

Many have been arrested, including Ashutosh Vajpai, Mahak Yadav, Salman, Mithilesh Puraina, survivor’s uncle, and others. Upon investigating their past criminal records, the police found that some of the accused, including Ashutosh, have been previously charged with murder in Shahpura and involvement in Prevention of Immoral Trafficking at the Crime Branch.

TI Ashoka Garden, Hemant Srivastava, said that several people, including Nidhi Thakur, Shashank Poddar, Dimpi Khan, Maqbool Ali, Arjun Patel, Nishant Mahole, Yogesh Kumar, Kuldeep, Ritul Pandey, Sagar Chauhan, Indra Bahadur, Naved, and Anjali Mohale, were implicated in running the illegal racket.