She whimpers as doctors and nurses check on her. They try to draw her out, she doesn’t respond. In around a month, she will become a mother — to a child born of rape. Police arrested her father on Monday on charges of raping her. She is 16 years old. Her tears won’t stop falling.
Telangana authorities are rallying around the Class 10 student from a village in Ranga Reddy district at a Hyderabad hospital where she is admitted, but fear they cannot save her from childbirth.
“She would have appeared for board examinations in about five months, but is eight months pregnant now,” said a doctor handling her case. “A medical termination of her pregnancy is ruled out because it is well past the permissible 20-week period,” the doctor added.
The girl, who is from a Scheduled Tribe community of basket weavers, knew something was wrong with her body, but did not know she was pregnant until a few days ago, said police. She stayed quiet out of fear, but her aunt discovered her pregnancy. She confided in her aunt that her father had been raping her for months, police added.
“Though we have all the evidence against the girl’s father to prove he repeatedly raped her, we are getting him medically examined to test his potency so that he cannot deny the heinous act,” PV Padmaja, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Shamshabad, told HT. “We will produce him in court on Tuesday for judicial remand,” Padmaja added.
{{/usCountry}}“Though we have all the evidence against the girl’s father to prove he repeatedly raped her, we are getting him medically examined to test his potency so that he cannot deny the heinous act,” PV Padmaja, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Shamshabad, told HT. “We will produce him in court on Tuesday for judicial remand,” Padmaja added.
{{/usCountry}}Police have booked the man under Indian Penal Code sections related to committing rape repeatedly on a person below 16 years of age, giving false information, and criminal intimidation, besides sections under the Juvenile Justice Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
The girl has a younger sister, who is in Class 8. Their mother was murdered 10 years ago and their father was an accused in the case, said police.
People in the man’s village are aware of his prior brush with the law. “He was in judicial custody for nearly three years after being accused of killing his wife and was acquitted for want of evidence,” said the village sarpanch. “When he was in jail, we got his daughters admitted to a girls’ hostel. But he pulled his daughters out of the hostel last year,” the sarpanch added.
The sarpanch and other villagers HT spoke to said they had no clue the man was abusing his daughter. The villagers added they did not spot her pregnancy.
The pregnant girl’s aunt took the help of local anganwadi workers and alerted the police on Sunday. The younger sister is now with the aunt, said police. Authorities are considering shifting the pregnant girl to a government-run child welfare home.
“The government will take care of her and her to-be-born child in accordance with the directions of the court,” said DCP Padmaja.