Odisha Woman Sarpanch Booked For ‘Selling’ Orphaned Girl To Ahmedabad Couple For Rs 5 Lakh

Bhubaneswar: A woman sarpanch of Odisha’s Sundargarh district has been booked of allegedly selling an orphan minor girl to a couple from Gujarat for Rs 5 lakh in 2022.

The accused has been identified as Dalrasa Gudia, sarpanch of Birabira panchayat under Sadar block of the district. She is on the run to evade arrest.

According to sources, the sarpanch sent the girl to one Vinay Patel in Jharsuguda in July 2022 to learn tailoring at an institute there and become employable. Vinay later took the girl to Ahmedabad on the pretext of giving her training at a bigger institute, but engaged her as a domestic help at his house. He and his wife Sunita also started to harass and torture her. The girl was told that the sarpanch had sold her to the couple for Rs 5 lakh.

When the girl expressed her wish to return to her village, the couple confined her to a room for around six months. They allowed her to visit her village in July this year after she promised to come back. Once in her village and having spent here some days, the sarpanch forced her to go to Ahmedabad again.

Following which, the girl approached Dharuadihi police, which allegedly to refused to register the complaint. On August 5, she knocked on the door of the SP, who directed the police to file a case and record her statement under Section 164 of the CrPC.