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Ludhiana: Day after sexual assault on girl with Down’s Syndrome, police arrest her teen brother
Police said the victim’s mother was aware that her son was behind the assault but had lied that the assault took place during school hours to protect her son. She knew that the matter would reach the police once she took her daughter to the hospital for treatment, so she herself filed a complaint with the police.
A day after a seven-year-old girl, suffering from Down’s Syndrome, was sexually assaulted, police arrested her 13-year-old brother for the crime.
Police said the victim’s mother was aware that her son was behind the assault but had lied that the assault took place during school hours to protect her son. She knew that the matter would reach the police once she took her daughter to the hospital for treatment, so she herself filed a complaint with the police.
On Thursday, when the police were investigating the involvement of the 13-year-old in the crime, residents, of the area where the family lives, blocked the road adjoining National Highway-44 for more than three hours. The protesters alleged that the police were trying to implicate the teenager to shield the school. Police, however, managed to pacify them and convinced them to lift the blockade.
Mother had left the kids in the room to do homework
Assistant commissioner of police (ACP, North) Gurbinder Singh said that on Wednesday, the boy, who is a Class-8 student in the same school, had returned home on his own while the girl, who studies in LKG, was picked up by the mother. After bringing her home, the girl’s mother changed her clothes and asked her brother to help the seven-year-old with her homework. Leaving the kids to study, the mother had left the room to finish some household chores. It was then that the boy is said to have sexually assaulted the seven-year-old. In pain, the girl asked her mother to take her to the toilet. It was there that the mother found blood oozing out of the girl’s private parts and came to know about the assault. Police said the woman had reportedly slapped the boy on finding out what he had done but later concocted a lie to save the son.
The crime was reported around 4pm, almost two hours after the woman had picked her daughter up from the school.
The ACP said that soon after receiving the complaint, police questioned the school principal and teachers. The police even scanned the footage of closed-circuit television cameras in the school but found nothing. Furthermore, the school had no male teachers or other staff members.
How police found out about boy’s involvement
The ACP revealed that during treatment, the girl had said “Bhai maara” (brother hit me) following which, police started questioning the 13-year-old boy and his mother. Police said the boy then confessed that he had assaulted his sister after viewing some pornographic content.
The case against the teenager has been registered under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code, Section 4 and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act at the Salem Tabri police station.
Road blocked for three hours
Meanwhile commuters had a tough time as area residents laid siege to the road adjoining National Highway-44 from 9am to 12pm on Thursday.
Refusing to believe the police version of events, the protesters said that the cops had forced the teenager to confess after threatening him. They accused the victim’s school authorities of sheltering the “real culprits”.
Parminder Singh, a resident of the area, said, “We want justice for the LKG student and the release of her brother. The police must investigate the matter thoroughly so that the real culprit can be punished.”
Lok Insaaf Party leader Randhir Singh Sibia, who turned up at the spot, said, “I have met the parents and the police have been requested to investigate the matter thoroughly.”
Meanwhile, as the protesters refused to lift the blockade for at least three hours, police was forced to divert the traffic. Sunil, a commuter on the route, said, “I was stuck in the traffic jam for over an hour. I had to navigate through some internal roads to reach my destination.”