A 17-year-old girl, allegedly raped a few months back at a village in Uttar Pradesh, on Thursday gave birth to a baby boy at the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER).
Her child was handed over to the Missionaries of Charity, Sector 23.
Police said they had registered a case.
The girl was brought to the city by her parents for abortion during her fifth month of pregnancy but was rescued by the members of Childline, an NGO, who put her in the Missionaries of Charity Home, Sector 23.
According to sources, the victim, who is from a village in Uttar Pradesh, was brought here by her parents about four and a half months ago for termination of her pregnancy. However, the doctors here refused to terminate the pregnancy, saying it would pose a threat to her life. The parents then left the girl with her sister who is married here and lives at a peripheral village of the city.
As per the officials of the Childline, who got to know about the girl through one of their outreach programmes in the villages surrounding Chandigarh, the victim (whose identity is withheld) during one of her counselling sessions revealed that she was raped by a shopkeeper at her native village one afternoon when she had gone there to buy groceries.
Fearing embarrassment and a social stigma, the girl’s family brought her to Chandigarh for the termination of her pregnancy. When the NGO members met the parents to counsel them against abortion, the parents refused to take the girl back with them.
Said Dr Sangeeta, project director, Childline, “We counselled the parents but they refused to take her and insisted on abortion. Fearing that they might still want to go ahead with termination of the pregnancy through some quack, we decided to keep her at the Mother Teresa Home in Sector 23 where she had been staying for the past month and a half. In fact, even the girl was very violent and would even hurl abuses at nurses and doctors. She was not able to handle what had happened to her. So we held many counselling sessions with her during which she admitted that the she was raped by a boy in the shop near her house.”
NGO officials said her father worked as a labourer and the family had no money to even get the girl admitted for delivery. The NGO officials then arranged for her pre-natal check-ups and free delivery.
In fact, the NGO members said the parents wanted to get her married immediately after she gave birth to a baby.
NGO for children
Members of Childline are available round the clock through a 24-hour free, emergency phone service “1098” for children in need of aid and assistance.
Woman constable sexually harassed
A woman constable of the Chandigarh Police became the latest victim of sexual harassment near the grain market, Sector 26, on Thursday morning.
The incident happened when Sukhraj Singh, a constable with the UT Police, was on his way to drop his wife, Renu, also a constable with the UT Police, from Police lines, Sector 26, to ISBT, Sector 17. The two were in civil dresses and on their personal vehicle.
As the two reached near Jat Bhawan, Sector 27, they were approached by a car with three youths. The three allegedly started following the couple who were on their motorcycle. “The youths started using abusive language. This instigated Sukhraj to stop his vehicle. The accused also stopped their car and started arguing with him,” said a cop.
The accused and the couple then entered into a scuffle in which Sukhraj suffered minor injures. Sukhraj called the Police Control Room. By the time a PCR van came, the accused fled. However, the victims noted the make, colour and registration number of the car.
SHO Anokh Singh said, “We have traced the car to Dera Bassi and a team of officers is searching for the accused.”
Earlier incidents
On August 29 last year, a traffic cop was assaulted by a 20-year-old
On September 23, modesty of two women cops was outraged while they were on duty at the Aroma light point
On July 25, modesty of a woman cop on duty near the railway light point was outraged