A 16-year-old tribal girl, who was allegedly raped by her neighbour, died by suicide after she found that she was pregnant, Tamil Nadu Police said on Friday.
While the accused was arrested, the principal of the school (established under the Union ministry of tribal affairs) where the girl studied, and the hostel warden were also held for failing to report the crime, they added.
Providing details, police said the girl claimed that she was repeatedly raped by her neighbour in her village in Tiruvannamalai district last year when she was at home due to the Covid-induced restrictions.
“After the government lifted the restrictions, the girl returned to the residential school and on December 22, she fainted in the campus. She was taken to a nearby hospital where she and the warden were informed about her pregnancy. The warden informed the headmaster who in return summoned the child’s parents. They asked them to take her home but did not reveal her condition,” a senior police officer in Tiruvannamalai said, preferring anonymity.
After her parents brought her home, the child attempted suicide on January 7. Her parents rushed her to Tiruvannamalai government hospital where doctors informed them about her pregnancy, the officer said.
“She was in the hospital for more than 10 days and was unconscious most of the time,” the officer said.
{{/usCountry}}“She was in the hospital for more than 10 days and was unconscious most of the time,” the officer said.
{{/usCountry}}When she regained consciousness, she revealed that she was repeatedly raped by her neighbour and sought to end her life after she became pregnant. The girl died during treatment on January 18, the officer said.
On the basis of the girl’s statement, her neigbour, the school headmaster and the warden were arrested under sections 6 (punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the POCSO Act, 2012, section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989 on January 17, police said.
The accused were produced before a court and sent to judicial custody, they added.
“The accused neighbour claimed he was in a relationship with the girl. We are yet to establish if the relationship was consensual,” another investigating officer said.
“The girl was almost at the end of her second trimester... She also tested positive for Covid-19 and was on ventilator support,” the officer added.
Thiruvannamalai superintendent of police Allatipalli Pavan Kumar Reddy said a report was sent to the Chengalpattu district tahsildar on January 18 in this regard. It is unclear whether the Union tribal ministry has been informed about the crime.
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