Despite almost two decades of police investigations, the teenager has never been found (Image: Getty)
A teenage girl who was kidnapped to stop her giving evidence in her own rape case has never been found, nearly 19 years after she disappeared in Uttar Pradesh, northern India. The case dates back to 2007 in Barhad village, in Aligarh district, where the 19-year-old was working as a daily wage labourer at an orchard.
According to the family’s lawyer, she was allegedly raped while working there. Police later arrested the accused, rescued the teenager and registered a rape case. After being released on bail, the accused allegedly pressured the family to reach a compromise. When they refused, the court heard the teenager was allegedly kidnapped again a few months later to stop her giving evidence.
According to the FIR lodged by her father on September 28, 2007, the accused allegedly entered the family’s home armed with country-made pistols before abducting the teenager because she was the complainant and key witness in the rape case.
Despite almost two decades of police investigations, the teenager has never been found.
Last week, a court sentenced five people to life imprisonment after ruling the teenager had been abducted to prevent her from appearing as a key witness in the case. A sixth accused person was acquitted.
Her family said they only learned about the verdict through local media.
Her mother said: “We are happy, but this has come at great cost. We lost our daughter. We lost my husband, who spent years fighting this case. We sold our only three bighas of land and our buffalo. Now we have almost nothing left.”
The woman’s husband spent years pursuing the case before his death in 2020. Her sons have since taken over responsibility for following the court proceedings.
One of her brothers said: “I saw my father run from police station to lawyers and courts for years. We are grateful that the court has sentenced the accused to life imprisonment, but one accused was acquitted despite, in our belief, playing a major role in the crime. We hope he is also brought to justice.”
The family’s lawyer said the girl’s father repeatedly approached police after the kidnapping, but no case was initially registered.
He later went to court, which directed police to register a case into the kidnapping.
The rape case ended with all of the accused being acquitted on May 22 this year after the missing teenager could not be produced before the court.
However, on July 30, five people were convicted over the kidnapping and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Police said multiple teams had investigated the disappearance but had been unable to find the teenager.
A police officer added: “We are examining the old case records to gather more details. As far as I know, the girl has not been traced so far. Under law, a person missing for seven years may be presumed dead, though that does not mean the person has been officially declared dead in every case.”