RANIPET: A 25-year-old man was arrested under POCSO Act for sexually abusing his minor wife in Ranipet on Thursday. The incident came to light when the minor approached the officials at the Ranipet police station and registered a complaint against her husband and in-laws on Wednesday. An investigating officer said that the girl got married to the suspect in 2015, when she was 13 years old.
The police said that the marriage took place against the consent of the suspect’s family members.
Since then, she had been allegedly tortured and sexually abused by her husband and also verbally abused by her in-laws, the police said. Unable to bear the assault, she approached the Ranipet police.
After the preliminary investigation, the police arrested the man under Sections 5 (L) (sexual assault on a child) and 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of POCSO Act, Sections 9 (Male adult marrying a child) & 10 (solemnising a child marriage) of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 506 (1) (criminal intimidation) of IPC, the police said.The police also registered the case under the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Women Harassment Act. The investigating officer said that the father of the accused has been arrested.