Twelve hours was all it took for an 18-year-old woman kidnapped in a Telangana village on Tuesday morning to re-emerge married to one of her kidnappers who turned out to be her boyfriend. On Tuesday morning, the incident created ripples online with videos of the girl’s abduction in front of her father widely shared on social media sites.
The CCTV footage shows two men, their faces covered, emerge from a white sedan and forcibly push the girl into the car before speeding away. All this happened in the presence of her father who is also seen in the CCTV footage.
Kidnapping of a girl caught on camera, the incident reported in Rajanna Sircilla Dist. 18 year old was abducted in front of her father while she was coming out from the temple after performing puja. Minister and local MLA #KTR was expected to visit the village today. #Telangana pic.twitter.com/9Cu1HljrwY
— Ashish (@KP_Aashish) December 20, 2022
However, as evening dawned, the girl released a video of her marriage which showed her dressed in a bridal outfit. The woman stated that she had married her boyfriend who was one of the kidnappers. According to the girl, she had tried to elope with the man earlier too but failed.
The girl further revealed that her father was opposed to their inter-caste relationship and she now fears for her life and that of her husband. The girl has also claimed that the couple had gotten married 10 months ago. However, the marriage could not be held legally valid as she was a minor then. The boy, 24, was charged with sexual assault and child marriage.
The girl said that with age no longer a factor now, the couple decided to get married at a temple on Tuesday.
Was the kidnapping staged?
The girl, however, refuses to acknowledge that the incident caught on CCTV this morning was staged. According to her, since the four men who accosted her and forced her into the car had their faces covered, she actually thought she was being kidnapped, the girl claims, adding that it was only after she realised that one of the men was her boyfriend did she decided to get married to her.
According to a media report, the man belongs to a Scheduled Caste while the woman hails from an Other Backward Class community.
The police had jumped into action soon after the video showing the woman being forced into the car in the Rajanna Sircilla district around 5:30 am and formed six teams to locate her.
“A case has been registered and we are making all efforts to trace them. Four people are involved in the incident. The girl had eloped with her lover in the past. Now as she has become an adult, he (her lover) might have taken her. Three teams have been formed to nab them,” Vemulawada DSP, Nagendra Chary said earlier today.