CHENNAI: Raped by over 10 men, recorded, and pushed into sex trade... Sixteen-year-old Radhika (name changed) endured an awful lot before she could escape from her abusers. Radhika, a resident of Kancheepuram, had to drop out of school due to financial constraints. She was juggling odd jobs to support her parents, daily-wage labourers when her neighbour promised to help her earn a living as a domestic help in Chennai.
“The neighbour woman paid Rs 5,000 to Radhika’s parents and took her away last November. She returned only this April,” says the girl’s uncle. The woman, however, forced Radhika into sex trade. According to the family and police, Radhika was kept in a house in Kancheepuram and was taken to different parts of Chennai for sex work. She was allegedly raped by over 10 men.
The traffickers took intimate pictures and threatened to show it to her parents if she reported them. She was allowed to talk to her parents over the phone, but under supervision.
Worried about her pictures being leaked online, Radhika kept mum. However, things took a turn when the girl’s mother demanded the neighbour to bring her daughter home for the Easter holidays. A fight ensued after which the woman promised to bring the girl home.
Once she was home, Radhika refused to return. She gathered the courage to report the crime to her mother and then to the police. Police have booked a case under the POCSO Act and are searching for the neighbour woman and her accomplice.
In a similar incident in the district, on April 2, Kancheepuram police arrested two auto rickshaw drivers for kidnapping a Class-X girl and raping her.