Midnapore: A teenaged girl on Tuesday left for Surat after a local court allowed the Gujarat police to take her back as she was short of attaining the age of 18 by a few days at the time of fleeing here.
The girl had arrived at Belda in West Midnapore district to join her lover on June 6 last when she was short of attaining 18 years by a few days.
The girl and Sheikh Sharukh, who hailed from Belda and was a tenant at her Surat house, had developed an affair. But when it became public, Sheikh Sharukh who worked as a plumber was thrown out of work and evicted from their house two years ago.
They kept in touch with each other and the girl boarded a train from Surat on June 6 last to join Sheikh Sharukh at Belda. Her parents filed a complaint with the police on grounds that she was a minor following which a Gujarat police team came to Belda and sought her remand.
The CJM had given a four-day remand but when her attention was drawn to the fact a lady constable was not accompanying the Gujarat team, she directed them to come back with a woman member. The girl was remanded to Vidyasagar Balika Bhavan here till then.
The Gujarat police team returned to Belda with a lady constable and sought her remand again. Meanwhile, the girl attained 18-yr and pleaded that she was no more a minor and had come here on her own.
CJM Manjushree Mandal said in her order on Monday that since she was a minor at the time the case was filed, the 4-day remand has to be executed.
Upon reaching her hometown, she can give a deposition to the magistrate that she has become an adult and it was a matter of her personal choice following which the law will take its own course, the court said.
