14-yr-old Jhabua tribal girl rescued after 16-hr ops

A 14-year-old tribal girl who was kidnapped by a 22-year-old man from western Madhya Pradesh's Jhabua district was recently rescued from a village 900 km away in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur Dehat district — following a 16-hour police operation.

- EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bhopal

Two years ago, 20-year-old Govind Naik, originally from the Auraiya district of central UP, came to Ranapur town in western MP's Jhabua district with a group of street-side garment sellers and began living and trading there.

He slowly developed a friendship with a 12-year-old tribal girl who lived in the same locality where he rented a house.

Over the course of two years, the bond between Govind and the teenage tribal girl deepened, and finally, he eloped with her on May 31.

By the time the girl's family realised that it was Govind who had taken her away, the duo had already reached Indore (150 km from Jhabua) and boarded a bus to Gwalior.

The matter was reported by the girl's family to the Jhabua district police in the afternoon, after which two teams were formed and a hunt for the kidnapped girl started at around 4 pm. A kidnapping case was registered at Ranapur police station.