TIRUCHY: A review of a missing child case from 2023 has led to the Srirangam all-women police recently booking fifteen people on charges of sexual assaulting a teenage girl. The girl’s mother and grandfather are among those booked.
According to the police, the girl was sexually assaulted at her house in Tiruchy as well as several places in Karur district since 2021 after being given in to prostitution by her mother and grandfather.
The incident came to light on June 14, 2023, when the girl– then 15 years old–was admitted to a private hospital in Puthur where she delivered a male baby. The next morning, the girl and her mother left the hospital abandoning the newborn and without paying for the medical expenses.
The hospital management informed the Government Hospital police, who then registered a missing person case and initiated an inquiry. The child welfare committee (CWC) was subsequently informed and the GH police was directed to register a case under the Pocso Act.
As part of inquiries, the girl, her mother and grandfather were produced before the CWC. The girl’s father was estranged from her mother.
During the inquiry, the girl’s mother claimed that the pregnancy was the result of sexual assault by a tea shop worker and assured the committee that she would take care of the girl.
They, however, refused to take responsibility for the newborn, following which the baby was handed over to a government home through the CWC, the police said.
Sources said no further action was taken in the case until a recent review by the CWC discovered that the teenage girl continued to be sexually assaulted by at least 10 other persons with the alleged involvement of her mother and grandfather until early 2025.
Following the revelations of the girl, who is a student at a private school, she and her mother were brought again for inquiry, during which the full extent of the abuse came to light, the police said.
Based on a complaint lodged by District Child Protection Officer P Ragul Ganthi, the Srirangam all-women police on January 7 registered a case against the girl’s mother, grandfather and 13 others under the Pocso Act as well as the BNS.
The charges ranged from sexual assault to kidnapping, abducting or inducing a woman to compel her into marriage, etc.
When contacted, a CWC official declined comment on the case.