More than 90 days after a 13-year-old girl went missing from Sitarganj, Uttarakhand, she remains untraced. According to the family, Nisha Khan went missing on July 6, earlier this year, resulting in a night-long search by the family and ushering them into the restaurant where she had reportedly been last seen the following day. According to the family, the man identified as Sagar, aged 30, had allegedly taken her away, FoEJ Media has learnt.
The family has further alleged that the police did not make significant efforts to trace the girls and the suspected accused despite the passage of more than three months. FoEJ Media, however, has not confirmed these allegations.
Following the disappearance of Khan, on 10th September, the police reportedly informed the family that a team had been in Chandigarh for five days ahead of the suspected accused’s last known mobile phone location in order to recover the girl.
“It has also been revealed that Nisha has been in touch with Sagar over a call,” a close family friend told FoEJ Media.
“Her mother is very distressed and mentally disturbed since her daughter’s disappearance; no one is helping her, but she is determined that she will find her out and will not give up hopes,” they added.
“It’s been so many days, but no able has caught the boy,” they said.
“I want my daughter; I will not give up on my search for her. I request everyone to please help me in getting back my daughter,” Khan’s mother, Shabina, said.
“The police said, ‘Where am I supposed to bring your daughter from? Should I dig a pit and bring her out?’” Her mother said while talking to reporters in a video shared by the family friend to FoEJ Media.
“I want my daughter; I only want my daughter,” she added with tears rolling down her eyes.
Khan had been working at a restaurant named Tawla in Sitarganj, and the suspect, Sagar, who worked at the same restaurant, allegedly took the girl away on the pretext of marriage. Her mother, Shabina, an ASHA worker in the Health Department, remains extremely distressed because her daughter has not recovered. She has allegedly been visiting the police station almost every day in the hope that her daughter will be safely returned. However, she is disappointed by an alleged slow response of the police administration.
“The police carried out only a small amount of preliminary investigation but were unable to trace the girl. The young man, Sagar, allegedly took the girl away, making the matter extremely serious and criminal in nature. Since the girl is a minor, there is a strong possibility that a sexual offence has been committed against her. The case should therefore be registered and investigated seriously under the POCSO Act,” Uttarakhand Asha Health Workers Union Memorandum reads.
“The police personnel behaved insensitively and irresponsibly, spoke harshly to the girl’s mother, and publicly insulted and humiliated her. She was treated as though she herself were a criminal,” it adds.
The allegations regarding police negligence and the officer’s remarks are based on the family’s testimonies. FoEJ Media could not independently verify the claims.
