LUCKNOW: The Prayagraj police claim to have busted a racket in which minor Dalit girls were being lured to Kerala on one pretext or the other and were being subjected to religious conversion.
A racket came to the fore when a woman -- Guddi Devi -- of Lilhat village, approached Phulpur police on June 28, alleging that Daraksha Bano, on May 8, enticed her 15-year-old daughter on the pretext of money from a wedding event and took her to Kerala, where she was forcibly converted.
She was then forced to join anti-national activities, Prayagraj police said on Monday, blowing the lid off a suspected radicalisation network.
Guddi Devi also claimed that she was being threatened since she lodged a complaint with the Prayagraj police. However, adequate security was provided to her and her family members. Police arrested two persons-- Daraksha Bano (19) and Mohd Kaif (25)–– both residents of Lilhat village in Prayagraj, for luring the Dalit minor to Kerala.
As per the police authorities, Kaif tried to outrage the modesty of the victim, and Kehkashan prompted the minor to undergo religious conversion.
The conspiracy unfolded when the victim, 15, who was allegedly taken from her village on May 8, escaped from the captivity of Daraksha and Kaif in Kerala and contacted her mother.
According to DCP Kuldeep Singh Gunawat, the teen, who was being forced to join ‘Jihadi’ activities, somehow managed to reach the Thrissur railway station from where she called up her mother with the help of local police.
“After contacting her mother from Kerala, the girl was brought back to Prayagraj and is currently being housed at a ‘One Stop Centre’ for protection. A case has been registered against Daraksha Bano, Mohammed Kaif, and an unidentified person who allegedly handed out threats to the victim’s family over the phone,” said the DCP.
During preliminary interrogation, the victim revealed that other minor girls were also being targeted and recruited by the same group. In the preliminary enquiry, it came to the fore that it was an interstate gang involved in a radicalisation network and that it could be active in other states as well.
According to the DCP, the girl was introduced to suspicious individuals who first enticed her with money, then allegedly coerced her into converting her religion and then put pressure on her into extremist activities.
She told the police authorities that Kaif had taken her on a motorcycle to Prayagraj Junction railway station and also allegedly harassed her, while Kehkashan Bano, later, took her to Delhi by train and then to Kerala, where she was introduced to unknown persons involved in the radicalisation network.
The DCP said that the accused were operating as part of an organised syndicate aimed at misleading girls and pushing them into anti-national and terror activities.
Three dedicated police teams have been formed to investigate further leads and unearth the full network associated with the suspects.