recently, the city police tracked down two missing teenage girls who had eloped with their boyfriends and gone to Goa. The girls are Class 10 students of a CBSE school.
One of them was in love with an adult and the other with a minor. When the cops probed further, they found out that the four used to meet frequently and bunk school and tuition classes for fun.
Sold off jewellery for Goa holiday
One of the girls stole jewellery from her house and then all four of them left for Goa via Mumbai. The distressed parents of the girls informed Sarkhej police who took the help of technical surveillance and as soon as one of the girls switched on her smart phone, they tracked it to Goa. A team rushed to Goa to bring them back. There, the girls confessed that they were out to just have fun and were set to return.
Tech-savvy teens
Tracking down the two teenage girls, both Class 10 students of a CBSE school, was not easy for the city police, especially because they had turned off their phones. They told the police that all the four of them had switched off their mobile connections and were using Instagram calling to avoid being traced
Cops call for awareness of consequences
Senior police officials stress the need for teenage awareness programmes about elopement consequences. “By law, we must register kidnapping complaints involving minors,” said DSP Himala Joshi. “In one year, the AHTU (Anti-Human Trafficking Unit) of the city crime branch tracked down 16 teenage girls who had eloped with adult males in the past one year. The parents have to face the consequences when they are traced back. If the girl submits in court that she does not want to return home, the court sends her to a shelter home.”
Teenagers should be educated about legal boundaries they might unknowingly cross when following their instincts, said Joshi