9-year-old girl sexually abused in Trichy, 4 held
Four arrested in Tamil Nadu for alleged sexual assault of a nine-year-old student by a school trustee, sparking outrage and political criticism.
Four people, including a woman staff, who are associated with a private school at Trichy district in Tamil Nadu were arrested on Friday in connection to an alleged sexual assault case of a nine-year-old student, police officers aware of the matter said.
The girl is a student of Class 4 in the school, they added.
“The woman staff’s husband, who is the trustee of the school, is the key accused,” a police officer said adding on condition of anonymity, adding that they have been booked under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso) Act. The trustee sexually abused the girl on Thursday. After she narrated her ordeal to her parents, they along with their relatives confronted the accused in school and protested over the incident in Manapparai in Trichy, the officer added.
The incident took place amid rising reports of sexual crimes against women and children across Tamil Nadu. It also came days after three government school teachers in Krishnagiri were arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a girl student inside the washroom.
The opposition has been criticising the ruling DMK over the deteriorating law and order situation. Leader of opposition and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami said the incident is heartbreaking. “This has happened in the same district where the government’s school education minister belongs to,” EPS said. “You are running a regime where even a Class 4 girl is not safe.”
Targeting chief minister MK Stalin, BJP state president K Annamalai said, “Aren’t you bothered that from women to girls, nobody is safe anywhere?”
In response school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi said that the state will introduce a new method for students to file complaints of sexual abuse and assault. “If allegations are proved, all their certificates that qualify them to teach will be withdrawn,” Poyyamozhi said.
