Minor girl abandoned by parents for eloping with lover

Angul: A minor girl was abandoned by her parents after she eloped with a youth of another caste at Karadapala under Pallahara block of Angul district.

Sources said the minor girl had left home with her lover. Later the girl was rescued by police after a complaint was lodged.

"He had taken away my daughter forcefully. I lodged a complaint following which he was arrested and forwarded to court. I fear that I would be penalised by the village committee if I take back my daughter. So, I don't want to take the risk and abandoned her," the father of the girl said.

She has been handed over to Angul child welfare centre, police said.

"We called the parents of the girl after rescuing her. But, they didn't agree to receive their daughter. We have produced her before the child welfare centre which decided to shift her to Ujala orphanage," Malaya Nayak, a police official said.