4 held for sexually assaulting 3 minors, hunt on for one: Police
Coimbatore police arrested an 18-year-old and three minors for sexually assaulting two girls and a boy, filming the acts. Counselling for victims arranged.
The Coimbatore rural district police arrested an 18-year-old man and apprehended three minor boys on Saturday for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls and a boy multiple times and filming the acts on mobile phones, officers aware of the matter said on Sunday, adding that they are looking for another minor accused who is currently absconding.
Coimbatore rural police superintendent K Karthikeyan said, “Police are arranging psychological counselling for the survivors and other children in the area to help them recover from the trauma. Additionally, efforts are underway to determine if any adult has assisted the accused in committing the crime or if any other children have been subjected to similar acts of violence.”
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Karthikeyan said that the mobile phones of the arrested accused have been seized. Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused had sexually assaulted the victims at isolated places in the village over the past few months. They also allegedly attacked the victims with thorny sticks when they resisted the sexual assaults, he added.
The accused were held after police received a complaint through the childline service policy, police said.
Parents of the victims reportedly came to know about the incident on Friday and allegedly hesitated to file the complaint initially, they added.
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After being alerted by a villager, a childline coordinator complained to the all-women police station, based on which a case was registered under different sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The 18-year-old accused has been sent to the Coimbatore Central Prison on judicial remand, the three boys were lodged in an observation home, police said.
