MADURAI: After speculations about a 17-year-old girl being gangraped and drugged surfaced, Madurai Rural SP V Baskaran on Sunday denied such accusations and said the girl was neither gang-raped nor drugged. He said eight persons were arrested in the case.
Baskaran said the girl went missing from her house on February 14. The family lodged a missing complaint and the police registered the missing case later.
During the inquiry, police said they identified the suspect as Nagoor Hanifa, who allegedly took the girl with him. However, both of them could not be traced. In this circumstance, the suspect’s family dropped the girl back at her house on March 3.
As the minor girl was unwell, the family members admitted her to a private hospital, and a government hospital in Melur before admitting her to the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH). The doctors in GRH said she might have consumed poison but this could not be verified as the girl was unconscious. She died at the hospital.
The SP recalled that after she went with the suspect, the two stayed in Madurai for two days before moving to his relative’s house in Erode district. He had allegedly sexually assaulted her there. Police said the suspect and the girl attempted to consume rat poison, but the girl alone ate it accidentally.
"The youth and his family knew the girl had poison but did not reveal this when they admitted her to a private hospital in Erode. They dropped her at her house again at one stage without informing her family about the poison intake. There were no signs of gang rape. The needle marks on her body were due to IV drips when she was admitted at the private hospital in February," he said.
Baskaran warned of spreading rumours on social media and said action would be taken against the people who disclose details of the case on social media.
Initially, a 'girl missing' case was registered, and it was later converted into 143,366 (A), 307 IPC, 5 (L), 6 of the POCSO Act. However, the case was again converted into 302 IPC retaining all other sections (except 307 IPC) following her death.
The suspects arrested in the case were Nagoor Hanifa, his mother Mathina Begam, relatives Rajam Begam, Sulthan Alavudeen, and his friends P Prakash, M Perumal Krishnan, Raja Mohammed, Shahul Hameed. Two suspects are still at large.
Sources said the family and villagers protested near highways in Melur demanding compensation. SP Baskaran later talked to the girl’s family. Her body was shifted to Government Rajaji Hospital for a post-mortem examination.
(If in distress or having suicidal thoughts, call 104 for the health department’s helpline or 044- 24640050 for Sneha suicide helpline.)