Girl who went missing nine years ago recounts ordeal with kidnappers: ‘They would beat me with a belt’
A couple had lured Pooja Gaud with ice cream and kidnapped her as they did not have a child of their own
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Your support makes all the difference.A 16-year-old Indian girl who was abducted when she was seven years old has described living nine years in confinement with her kidnappers who would allegedly beat her up with sticks and belts.
Pooja Gaud was kidnapped outside her school in India’s financial capital of Mumbai in the western state of Maharashtra on 22 January 2013.
A couple had lured her with ice cream and kidnapped her as they did not have a child of their own.
Police said Pooja was kidnapped by Harry D’Souza and his wife Soni D’Souza, because the couple did not have a child of their own, reported the Hindustan Times.
Mr D’Souza has been arrested.
Pooja said that after she was picked up from outside her school, the couple had first taken her to the neighbouring tourist state of Goa and then to the southern Karnataka state.
The couple would often threaten to hurt her if she cried or tried to draw attention of others.
When the couple had their own child, they started abusing Pooja.
She was taken out of school and the family shifted back to Mumbai.
“They would beat me with a belt, kick me, punch me. One time they beat me with a rolling pin so badly that my back began to bleed. I was also made to do chores at home and work in 12 to 24-hour-long jobs outside,” she was quoted as saying to BBC Marathi.
Though the house that she was kept in was close to her parents’ home, she said she was unfamiliar with the roads, was always watched and had no money or a phone, and couldn’t reach out for help or try to find her way back home.
One day when the couple were away, she managed to get hold of one of their phones and searched for her name on YouTube and found posts and videos on her kidnapping.
She then sought help from the domestic worker who worked at the house where Pooja worked as a babysitter.
They called one of the numbers on a missing persons poster and got in touch with a neighbour who connected Pooja to her mother.
Pooja’s family went to the police after meeting their daughter and lodged a complaint.
“I told the police everything. I even told them where my kidnappers lived,” she said.
Her complaint subsequently led to the identification and arrest of the accused.
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