Loot and scoot bride racket continues to flourish

BHIWANI: As vulnerable Haryana youths continue to be taken in by 'loot-and-scoot' brides, the government authorities are considering keeping a record of brides being brought to the state from other states. This would help the police to keep a tab on unscrupulous brides as well as to track gangs involved in human trafficking to protect innocent women and girls hailing from other states.

According to reports, gangs involved in forcibly bringing girls as well as bands of cheat brides have been flourishing in Haryana, which has a wide gap between men in the marriageable age vis-a-vis women due to low sex ratio.

In a recent incident, a 35-year-old man Kailash Kumar of Kungar village in Bhiwani district was lured by a woman who married him and then decamped with cash and jewellery from his home soon after marriage. Kailash, a daily wager, has lodged a complaint with the police in this regard. His wife Meena Devi, from Katkarkila village in Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh is untraceable. Kailash told the TOI on Wednesday that after failing to find a bride for himself in Haryana, he started looking for a match in other states by asking people known to him to find a bride for him. A person from Bhiwani approached him with an offer of marriage and the wedding was solemnized on January 30.

"All was going smoothly till I found my wife missing from our room on Monday night at about 3am. I looked for her in our house and later, I launched a hunt to trace her in the village along with my family members. We inquired about the middleman involved in the marriage too but he too couldn't be traced. We later found that Meena had taken Rs 45,000 and some jewellery with her before fleeing", Kailash said. The Bawani Khera SHO Dharamchand Yadav said they had no clues about the whereabouts of the bride so far.

According to police sources around 15 such incidents were reported from across the state last year and these brides have not been traced so far. "These women in fact seem to be part of a racket wherein gangs lured gullible males from the state who have crossed the marriageable age but still wanted to settle down in life," said a police source.

Additional director general of police (ADGP) B S Sandhu told TOI that in view of repeated reports of human trafficking, besides cases of loot-and-scoot brides coming to light, the police was considering taking some measures. "We have a proposal to keep a record of brides hailing from other states at the local police stations concerned across the state. It will help the police to deal with complaints related to them," he said, while adding that a decision is likely to be taken in a couple of days.

Jaswanti, a woman activist who runs a shelter home for destitute women and children in Rohtak maintained that apart from loot-and-scoot brides, the incidents of trafficking of girlsincluding minors were quite glaring. "If the police and the district authorities with the help of local panchayat keep track of brides coming from outside the state, it will also help in checking incidence of trafficking," she said. TOI

Posted in: bride buying,bride trafficking in haryana,bride trafficking in india