Man Marries Minor, Tortures Her with Cigarette Butts

Hatnur: A 45-year-old man took a minor girl as his third wife and then tortured her for over a year with cigarette butts and placed her under house arrest.

The accused identified as Dastagoud was a native of Burgula village in Nizamsagar mandal of Nizamabad district. He developed a close relation with a 16-year-old girl, also his close relative, after her mother died and her father was bed-ridden. The teenaged girl was a native of Hatnur mandal in Medak district. Last year, Dastagoud forcibly took her out of her house and secretly married her at a local temple. Later, he shifted her to Hyderabad and forced her to work as a domestic help and all the while thrashed her up besides burning her skin with cigarette butts.
Recently, she managed to escape his clutches with the help of neighbours and reached her home in Hatnur. She narrated her story to village elders who rushed her to Medak district Superintendent of Police (SP) Sumathi on Thursday. The latter directed officials to arrest Dastagoud and initiate an investigation.
Meanwhile, the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights issued a memo to Medak district SP as the Hatnur police failed to register the teenager's complaint.