Jaipur: A 17-year-old girl from Dhanbad managed to escape from the clutches of people allegedly trying to force her into prostitution, on Tuesday morning. The girl saved herself by running from her “husband’s house” in Sambhar to Phulera Junction, a distance of about eight km. Women who were part of the “home” where she was staying managed to catch up with her and beat her at Phulera, where a crowd intervened and handed her over to the Railway Protection Force.

The teenager narrated to TOI that her family had been approached for a marriage alliance. “Harish is 20. We were told that he ran a hotel and was rich, so we would not have to pay dowry. My parents agreed and my uncle and elder sister accompanied me to Sambhar. After my sister left, five other women came to the house. There were a lot of men who would visit. Harish did not tell me what it was all about. When he was not in the house, the other women sat me down and told me that I would have to watch them and learn the ropes along the way. I felt like it was no home at all. I did not sleep at all last night and packed my bag. Before daybreak, I slipped out.”

The girl told TOI that after her marriage on November 26 she was first taken to Bokaro to the house of the woman who initially informed her family of the match. “There were a lot of girls in that house too,” the teenager said.

Social activist Nisha Siddhu, who is taking care of the girl, said a police case would be registered. “This appears to be an inter-state prostitution racket,” she said. The girl’s older sister and other relatives are set to arrive from Dhanbad on Wednesday to take her back.