Sanchi

Sanchi, a 12 year old child, lived alone at home most of the time. Her mother died when she was young and her brother and her father were barely at home as they were daily wage labourers. The people in the village were aware of Sanchi’s situation, leaving her vulnerable.

Late on night in mid 2019,  Sanchi was dragged from her house to a nearby field and raped by two young men. She was left beaten and bruised. A terrified Sanchi didn’t tell her family that she was raped.  Her silence resulted in months of sexual exploitation.  A few months later the 12 year old discovered she was pregnant. 

When the men (one of them a trafficker) realised she was pregnant, they decided to sell her for prostitution. The two rapists took Sanchi and set out for Neemuch, MP.  They stopped at a dhaba (road side hotel) on the highway.   While the men were talking,  Sanchi slowly started to back away without them noticing.  She borrowed someone’s phone from the dhaba and called the police. She then ran away from the dhaba and went straight to the Neemuch Police station.  The police recorded her statement and filed a First Information Report. 

The accused were caught and taken into custody.  A pregnant Sanchi was placed at a One Stop Center.  The staff at the One Stop Center recommended that the 12 year old child go through an abortion immediately. Due to her tender age and physical weakness the District Magistrate advised that the abortion should be performed after some months.

Early 2020, Sanchi was sent to Indore for her abortion. After she got back  she stayed at the One Stop Center and then moved to the children’s home in Mandsaur, MP. 

While she was living in the shelter home in Mandsaur, the shelter home staff called us and shared her case with us. After studying her case, we met her at the shelter home.  In the months that followed we met Sanchi regularly.  We encouraged her to study.  Sanchi was not interested in studying.  

During Covid 2019, we kept in touch with Sanchi through video calls. During one  video call Sanchi shared that she started having nightmares. She would wake up screaming.  She was finding it so hard to deal with her painful and horrific past.  Due to the lockdown we were unable to meet her physically but kept counseling and encouraging her over the phone. 

In 2023, Sanchi had requested if she could go home and live with her father. After some weeks she was released from the shelter home and she went back to her father’s house. Soon she started receiving threats from the accused. Sanchi panicked and asked us if the accused was out of jail. We checked and got to know that one of the accused was out on bail for medical reasons. 

A year later, once again Sanchi started receiving threats from the accused.   This time we took Sanchi to  the Superintendent of Police, SP, Mandsaur.  We shared Sanchi’s case with him.  He assured her safety and told her to reach out to  him if she continued to receive threats or ever found herself in a harmful situation. 

The SP told her to visit the police station where the FIR was registered with her father and file a complaint against the accused.  Sanchi refused because the last time she visited the police station a lady police officer was rude and had slapped her.  Since then, she was afraid to go to the police station. 

Later that year some police officers came to Sanchi’s home and asked her to sign a letter without reading it. Sanchi mentioned this to us.  We went to the police station and verified the letter, it was a notice about the accused who had filed for bail application. 

In November 2024  when she was 17 years old Sanchi got married to a man from her community. She openly shared about her life with him and her husband accepted her as she was. 

In 2025 the court hearings started and Sanchi had to visit the court often.  We accompanied Sanchi and her father to court. 

After nearly  6 years, on 27th September 2025  the two accused were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Though nothing and no one can undo the pain and trauma this young girl had to go through when she was just 12 years, this young wife is focusing on building a life with her husband and her young son.