VIRUDHUNAGAR: Though two victims in the Pollachi rape case won the legal battle, justice is yet to be delivered to a victim, who was also an inmate of TELC Children’s Home at Sattur in Virudhunagar, said A Narayanan, director, Change India, an NGO.
Rueing the slow progress of the two-and-a-half-year old case, the child rights activist alleged that the husband of the home’s warden, impregnated the minor girl twice and is now on bail.
Giving the case details, Narayanan said the 16-year-old girl belonging to Arundhathiyar community from Ramanathapuram district was residing at the TELC home at Sattur. During 2011-12, she along with few other minor girls, was allegedly sexually abused by the 63-year-old husband of the home’s warden.
As the abuser continued to sexually exploit the victim, she was pregnant twice but the home authorities failed to report the incident to the police. Even they made her to abort at a private clinic, he said.
Though the nature of the case was medico-legal, the doctor failed to inform the incident to the police and carried out the abortion. The doctor was not punished for her illegal practice and she continued to practice in the same area, rued Narayanan.
A case was registered at the Sattur All women police station only in April 2012. However, no counselling or medical support was given to the rape victim. But shockingly, the police allowed the TELC management to shift her to their home in some other district.
Narayanan further said there were no trace where the girl was living and what the steps have been taken to rehabilitate her. A compensation of `75,000 was given to the victim.
The TELC group runs 28 children’s homes across the state but only few were the registered homes. Even after such crimes were reported in their children’s home, the authorities were yet to take firm action against them, he added.