A bizarre case of a 40-year-old woman allegedly “eloping” with a boy whose family claims he is a minor of 14 years of age is being investigated by Sukhsar police station in Dahod district.
While working as labourers in Gandhinagar, the woman, who has left behind her husband and six children, and the boy allegedly “fell in love.” The police are now awaiting the boy’s birth certificate to determine whether he is a minor and, if so, file a case against the woman under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act.
The boy’s family, who hails from Amlikheda village in Fatepura taluka of Dahod district, has been asked to bring the boy’s birth certificate to confirm his age, according to the investigating officer of Sukhsar police station.
“The matter is about a month old,” police Sub-Inspector N P Shelot told The Indian Express. The boy’s family went to Sukhsar police station to report that the woman had kidnapped their 14-year-old son.
According to the boy’s Aadhaar card, which was shown by his family, his year of birth is 2007, making him 14 years old. However, during the investigation, we came across one of his conversations with his father, in which he asserts that he is an adult who was born in 1997. We’ve requested that the boy’s family produce his birth certificate so that we can determine whether the case falls under the POCSO Act.”
After a failed “monetary negotiation” between the two families, the boy’s family approached the police, according to Shelot. “From the primary investigation, it does not appear that both sides are telling the truth,” Shelot said.
We learned that they were negotiating a financial settlement, as is the custom in this region for resolving disputes between families whose members have eloped together. Their negotiations appear to have failed, and the boy’s family has decided to file a complaint. We don’t know if the alleged kidnapping happened in Gandhinagar, where they worked, or in Sukhsar, or somewhere else.”
The woman’s husband, who is from Sagrapada village in Dahod’s Fatepura taluka, told police that he first approached the boy’s family in Amlikheda, claiming that the “youth was luring his wife to elope.” The boy’s family had also located the two and decided to bring them back to the village to resolve the matter, according to police officials, but the two escaped from Santrampur on their way to Dahod.