COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore All-Women Police (East) arrested seven persons, including four school students, for repeatedly sexually assaulting and impregnating a 15-year-old girl. Three more youth in connection with the case are absconding, said the police, adding that the girl, who is a class IX student, has been sexually exploited by ten people since 2016.
According to the police, the minor became friends with a school student in 2016 and was in a relationship with him. The boy is then said to have repeatedly sexually assaulted her. Meanwhile, three more school students, also said to be her friends, apart from six neighbours, had also allegedly sexually abused her. The minor did not reveal about the incidents to her parents.
It was only recently that her parents got to know that the girl was pregnant, said the police, adding that they took her to a private hospital at Neelambur in order to abort the foetus. However, the hospital authorities had refused to perform abortion and advised them to take the girl to the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH), where she was later admitted. In a turn of events, on Saturday evening, the minor went missing.
After the hospital authorities informed the All-Women police (East), the girl was found later that day. The police stated that the victim revealed to them that she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by ten males, following which a case was registered against them under the provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Seven persons in connection with the case were arrested on Monday, including four school students. “The school students were lodged at a juvenile home, while the three youth were lodged at the sub-jail at Avinashi. Three more persons are absconding and the police are searching their whereabouts,” said police sources.