A father in Gujarat tied his teenage daughter to a wooden log with locks and an iron chain to stop her from eloping with the man she loves.
Vasantbhai Rathwa took this horrific step after his 19-year-old daughter refused to go live with the family of the man with whom she had been forcibly married, Indian Express reported.
Rathwa was arrested by the police on Tuesday afternoon after it was discovered that he had chained his daughter inside a hut in Gujarat’s tribal-dominated Chhota Udepur district. The newspaper reported that he has been booked under Section 342 of the Indian Penal Code for wrongful confinement.
The teenager was reportedly married off to man from a neighbouring village, a month ago, but she managed to elope with her lover.
“The girl’s relatives started searching for her and soon found her out from a nearby village. She was brought back but not let to go out. The girl’s mother is no more so her father decided to confine her in such a way that she does not succeed in again eloping with her lover," B.D. Shah, a local police official, told Indian Express.
"So on Monday, her father locked her legs using an iron chain in such a way that she could not move,” he said.
The teenager was rescued after a social worker called 181, the women's helpline number, which sent an ambulance to secure her release and take her to the hospital on Tuesday.
The police had to intervene after villagers refused to let go of the girl.
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