Guwahati, Oct. 7: After Punjab and Haryana, Gujarat has allegedly become the new destination for trafficking girls from Assam for forced marriages, according to an NGO official.

Rishi Kant of Shakti Vahini, a NGO working against trafficking, said girls from impoverished families in rural areas of Assam are being trafficked to Gujarat for marrying into certain communities such as Patels, which have got a skewed sex ratio because of female foeticide.

“Earlier, girls from Assam were mostly trafficked to Punjab and Haryana for forced marriages since these states have a skewed sex ratio. But of late, we have received information about girls from Assam being trafficked to Gujarat for forced marriages,” he told The Telegraph over phone today.

In the latest census, the number of girls is 905 against 1,000 boys in Gujarat and the ratio was even lower in some parts of the state.

To highlight the issue, Kant cited the rescue of four girls from a train at Rangiya railway station on Friday night while they were being taken to Gujarat.

Government Railway Police also arrested Seema Mandal, hailing from Dhekiajuli in Sonitpur district, for human trafficking.

Kant said a large number of minor girls from Assam are also being trafficked to Delhi and then sold to some dubious placement agencies, most of which are located at Shakurpur and Punjabi Bagh, for employing them as domestics.

“A majority of these girls end up being sexually exploited,” he said.

He said a few days ago, Shakti Vahini with help of Delhi police, rescued a 16-year-old girl from Kokrajhar district of Assam working at a home in Punjabi Bagh.

“The girl said her employer, Rajan Sahni, who is a doctor, had sexually exploited her. She was also administered some pills by him which caused heavy bleeding. He would exploit her when other members of the family were not at home,” Kant said.

Delhi police have registered a case against Sahni, who is absconding. The victim was working at Sahni’s residence for the past four years. Sahni owns a pathological lab named Life Technologies Private Limited in Pitampura.

The girl told counsellors she was studying in Class IV when she was taken away from home.

According to the girl, a man called Benoy brought her to Delhi, who had also brought many other girls to the national capital for employing them as domestics.

She said her employer hadn’t allowed her to go home once, even when her father fell ill and died.

“She was supposed to be paid Rs 1,400 per month in the first year of employment, Rs 1,500 per month in the second year and subsequently Rs 2,000. She said till now only Rs 6,000 has been paid to her mother in 2012. She has heard her employer deposited the money in the bank but was not sure about it,” Kant said.

He said Shakti Vahini would contact the Kokrajhar district administration to send her back home.