KOLLAM: Three youths were arrested in connection with the abduction of a minor girl of a nomadic family staying in Oachira. The arrested are Ananthu, 20, of Payikkuzhi, Bipin, 20, of Changankulangara in Oachira and Pyari, who is wanted in another sexual assault case. However, the girl and the main accused remain untraceable.
Police have named the main accused as Muhammad Roshan, 20, son of a local CPI leader. “The abductors have taken the girl out of the state. We have a team following them and there will be arrests soon,” said SI of Oachira station B Sabu. He said tracing them has become difficult after the accused switched off the mobile when they realised the police were on their trail. They might have gone to Bengaluru, said a police officer involved in the probe. The kidnappers abandoned the car used for the crime at Kayamkulam. A police team went to Ernakulam based on the mobile tower location of one of the accused. But the gang gave them the slip.
A four-member gang kidnapped a 14-year-old daughter of a nomadic couple from Rajasthan at Oachira on Monday night. The gang consisting of local youths came in a car. They barged into the family’s shanty on the roadside and abducted the girl after assaulting her parents.
Meanwhile, the girl’s father came up with the allegation the Oachira police did not intervene when the girl was subjected to sexual harassment in the past.
Instead of booking the culprits, the police advised the family to dress up the girls like boys to avoid further trouble, he said.The police refuted the allegation and said the girl eloped with the main accused a year ago and was made to return due to the intervention of the police. The family has been living in Oachira for the past two years, selling plaster-of-Paris figurines on the side of National Highway-66. The girl abducted is the eldest of seven children the couple has.
Kerala Women’s Commission has taken a suo-motu case on the issue. “The culprits should be arrested at the earliest as it is a crime of serious nature,” said commission member M S Thara.
Human RIghts Commission takes suo motu case
T’Puram: Kerala State Human Rights Commission took suo motu case on the issue and directed the district police chief to submit a report on police action so far. Commission member K Mohankumar said there were complaints that police did not follow up the case when the family complained before. The commission will consider the case in its sitting on April 25.