Some passers-by tried to intervene and help the girl but the kidnappers fired shots to scare them, police said. A 15-year-old girl walking home from school on Monday evening was kidnapped by three-four people in a sports utility vehicle in Deeg district of Rajasthan, police said. Her father said they married off the girl last year but she returned home after her in-laws harassed her for dowry, her family told the police, insisting that her in-laws were likely behind the kidnapping.
“Three to four people arrived in a four-wheeler and abducted her on gunpoint. When the locals tried to stop them, they also fired a few rounds. However, no casualty was reported so far,” said the Kaman circle officer Girraj Meena.
The abduction was captured in a CCTV installed in Deeg district’s Pahari area and has prompted sharp attacks from the Congress on the state government over the law and order situation in the state and the Bharatpur region, chief minister Mohan Lal Sharma’s home district. Last year, Deeg was carved out as a separate district from Bharatpur.
A video clip of the incident showed the girl was walking on the congested road near her school when two people got off a white Sumo vehicle that had been waiting for her, grabbed the girl and bundled her into the car. Some passers-by intervened and tried to stop them but stepped back when they fired warning shots.
Meena said the girl’s father also registered an police complaint against the girl’s husband, brother-in-law, and two others at the Pahari police station at night. “In the FIR, he said that the girl was married off a year ago. But after a few days, her in-laws started demanding for dowry.”
Meena said the girl’s father took her home a few months later and she resumed her education. “However, her in-laws had been constantly calling him for dowry,” Meena said, citing his complaint.
The girl’s father told reporters that he had approached the police to find his daughter and arrest the accused. “She was supposed to appear for exam on Tuesday. Her future will be ruined if she cannot continue the education. She was married in Aata Sata tradition which exchanges brides between two families for marriage. The groom’s sister is married to his brother in law,” he said.
Meena said three police teams have been formed to track down the kidnappers.
