COIMBATORE: The mother of the 10-year-old minor girl, who was sexually assaulted and murdered near Sulur in Coimbatore district, alleged that her husband’s family cremated her daughter’s body without her consent and without letting her see it.
Speaking to reporters in the city on Sunday evening, the mother said that earlier she had refused to sign for receiving the body from the hospital until justice was ensured.
“However, after obtaining my husband’s signature, the body was immediately handed over to my husband’s family following the autopsy. They did not show me the body and instead took it through the backdoor of the ESI Hospital in the city and placed it in an ambulance. When we tried to follow them, the ambulance drove away. Later, we travelled to our native place in Salem, but before that they had cremated her,” she alleged.
The mother appealed to the police to take action against her husband and his family members for not letting her see her daughter one last time.
Responding to allegations online that she was sleeping after consuming alcohol when the child was abducted, she said, “On that day, I drank the cool drink that was kept near the fridge by my husband. It was laced with alcohol. But I was not aware of it. After consuming it, I lost consciousness.” She requested people not to spread slander against her.
When asked whether she knew K Karthi (arrested suspect), she replied in the negative. “I came to know his name only after the incident,” she said.
Meanwhile, MLAs and police officers visited the mother’s house and arranged a phone call between her and Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay. During the call, the CM expressed his condolences and assured that the government would ensure stringent punishment for the accused immediately.
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami too spoke to the parents of the girl over the phone, conveyed his condolences, and assured them that the party would continue to fight for stringent punishment for the accused.
Police accidentally reveal identifying information
Meanwhile, a day after the district police mentioned the address of the 10-year-old victim in its Tamil and English press releases after arresting two persons in connection with the case, they on Sunday appeared to make amends for it and began sensitising the media organisations not to reveal the victim’s identity, as it is a violation under the Pocso Act.
The police appeal, in a statement, comes in the wake of a few media organisations publishing the name and photographs of the victim. Moreover, social media platforms were also seen publishing the pictures of the girl.
Section 23 of the Pocso Act, 2012, prohibits revealing the name of a child victim of a sexual offence, his/her photograph, school name, address, and parents’ details in the media.
Further, under Section 72 of the BNS, revealing the identity is a punishable offence. Similarly, under Section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act, the identity of the victim as well as any witnesses must not be disclosed.
While the police mentioned the address of the minor girl in both releases issued on Saturday evening, they did not disclose her name.
Also, during the press meet addressed by West Zone IG R V Ramya Bharathi on Saturday, she said one suspect, K Karthi (33), was a neighbour. This statement too could indirectly lead to identification of the victim. However, Ramya Bharathi was not available for further comments.
The district police also failed to prevent photographs of Karthi from being circulated on social media. The images showed him lying on a hospital bed with a fractured right hand and right leg at Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital.They also failed to cover the face of the second suspect, R Mohan, when he was produced before the Judicial Magistrate Court in Sulur.
“The police have not revealed the identity of the victim. We can raise questions when that happens, as was done by a senior police officer in the Pollachi sexual assault case,” said city-based advocate S Balamurugan Balamurugan.
‘Such incidents are totally unacceptable’
Responding to the incident, School Education Minister Rajmohan said such incidents were “completely unacceptable” and assured that the government was taking steps both to prevent such crimes and strengthen institutional response mechanisms. He also said the police took swift action after receiving the complaint
(With inputs from N Dhamotharan @ Coimbatore)
