Dad tried to sell me off: Girl - College student lodges complaint with SDO

TT, Bolpur, Nov. 8: A 19-year-old college girl today lodged a complaint with the sub-divisional officer of Bolpur alleging that her father had tried to sell her off.

The girl said her father, who owns a photocopy shop and hires out a hall for marriages and other events, had last month sent her to Burdwan town with an unknown person after telling her she would have to appear for an interview.

The college student said she readily agreed to go for the "interview" because she was interested in getting a job.

The girl today appealed to Bolpur SDO Shampa Hazra to provide her a shelter and take legal action against her father.

The SDO has forwarded the letter to police and directed Childline, an NGO working towards protection of child rights, to keep her with them.

"I have forwarded the letter to the police as it is a matter of police investigation. I have also spoken to Childline in this connection," Hazra said.

The girl, a first-year student in a Bolpur college, said: "My parents, particularly my father, was always unwilling to let me continue my studies after Madhyamik. On October 18, my father told me that I had a job interview in Burdwan town and asked me to accompany an unknown person in a car. I fell asleep in the car and when I woke up, I found the car stationary and the driver was not in the vehicle. When I asked some passers-by, they told me the place was Andal."

The girl said she called her friends and the general secretary of her college who guided her back home.

The college student is the second among four daughters. Her elder sister is a college pass-out and the two younger sisters are students of Classes VI and VIII.

According to the girl, her father did not want her to continue with her studies after she completed Madhyamik. She approached her relatives, who persuaded the trader to allow her daughter study further.

"After my higher secondary examination, I got Rs 25,000 under the Kanyasree scheme and took admission in college. I told my father that I would continue my studies anyhow," she said.

Asked why she suspected that her father had sent her to Andal with an unknown person in a bid to sell her off, the girl said: "I started doubting my father when I reached Andal. I woke up in an empty car and there obviously was no interview in Burdwan town."

When the girl confronted her father after returning home, he denied the allegation.

"My father told me that I had gone on my own and he had never told me about any interview. After that, I was certain that my father is capable of doing anything to me. I realised he is trying to sell me off," she said.

The general secretary of the college where the girl studies said: "She called me up and asked me how to return home in Bolpur from Andal and sought my help."

The girl's father refuted the allegations.

"The allegations against me are false. I am surprised that my daughter lodged a complaint against me with the SDO. How can I try to sell my daughter?" he asked.

The SDO spoke to the girl and her father separately this evening and decided to send the girl to a home in Bolpur.

A copy of the complaint has been forwarded to the sub-divisional police officer of Bolpur, Amlan Kusum Ghosh.

"We have started an investigation after getting the complaint from the SDO. We are looking into the matter," a senior police officer said.

A district counsellor of Childline, Madhabranjan Sengupta said: "We have sent the girl to a home in Bolpur this evening following the SDO's direction."