India, May 13 -- "E Ladki!" It may sound like an innocent call to a child, but for a nine-year-old girl from Kalyan, it marked the beginning of a seven-year nightmare in Rajasthan. This is a story of abduction, trafficking, rape, and child marriage - and of escape. Now 16, and in the safety of her older sister's home in Kalyan, the words "E Ladki" still ring in her ears-a haunting echo of everything she has survived.

The Mahatma Phule police in Kalyan have arrested two persons, including her 30-year-old "husband" and his brother, who allegedly sold her for Rs.3.35 lakh.

The girl's parents, who work as toilet cleaners, had raised her in difficult conditions, and she spent her early years accompanying them while managing to study for a fe...