the goan I network
VASCO
A friendship with a fellow girl which began about four months ago ended in a nightmare and trauma for a 15-year-old girl, after she was allegedly forced into prostitution by the friend, her mother and two men.
While all four accused have now been arrested by Vasco police, the trauma encountered by the victim since July has shocked the port town.
According to sources, the victim had been forced into prostitution since July and the school noticed a change in the girl’s attendance, behaviour and walk.
“The school then informed the mother to take her daughter for a medical checkup, while also undertaking counselling for the girl.”
“The victim then disclosed the shocking incident and the school management alerted Vasco police about the heinous crime, which forced her into commercial sexual activities with various customers. Acting on the information, police also raided a flat in Vasco and detained the accused,” said the source.
Acting on a complaint, Vasco police arrested Shilpa Rathod (19), Laxmi Rathod (38), Ismail Shaikh alias Kabbu (30) and Parshuram Patkar alias Patri (26) in under Sections 370, 376, 506 (ii) read with 34 IPC, Section 8 of Goa Children’s Act, Sections 4, 8,12 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Sections 4,5,7 of Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.
Disclosing the shocking details, the victim had claimed that she had first met Shilpa, while travelling to school. Shilpa would travel in the same bus and the two became friends.
“As their friendship grew, Shilpa began visiting the victim’s house and even stayed overnight. The victim had also gone to Shilpa’s house for an overnight stay and on her first visit, was reportedly offered beer by Shilpa,” said a source.
“Though nothing untoward happened during the first visit, the victim became intoxicated with beer on her second visit. The victim was unaware that a male customer was in the house and he later sexually assaulted her.”
“The next morning, Shilpa is alleged to have threatened the victim with dire consequences if she revealed the incident to anyone. She also gave the girl some money,” the source said.
“These incidents began to take place frequently, with the victim being threatened with dire consequences. When the victim began facing health issues, she decided to stop the illicit sexual activities. She began avoiding Shilpa, but started getting threats from unknown persons while going to school.”
“The victim still tried to avoid them, but some masked men then started going to her house and threatened her,” said the source
All four accused have been produced before the JMFC and remanded to 6 days police custody.
Investigations are underway under the supervision of Vasco PI Nilesh Rane.
