Vellore/ Chennai: A 11-year-old girl was raped and murdered on her way back from school near KV Kuppam near Gudiyatham in Vellore district on Monday. Her body, in school uniform, was found in a mango grove at Kalyana Periyangkuppam Tuesday morning. Three class-X students are being questioned on suspicion, sources said.
According to police, the girl’s hands and legs were tied and there were injuries on her head apparently by the assailant hitting her with a bottle. There were empty liquor bottles and water sachets found near the body. Daughter of a coolie, the class-6 girl of the Machanur government higher secondary school routinely cycled home via Kalyana Periyangkuppam, police said.
When the girl did not return home Monday evening, her worried parents and other relatives searched for her for hours in vain and finally filed a missing-person complaint at the KV Kuppam police station. "We found the body in the mango grove. Her cycle and schoolbag wee found in the bushes nearby", said inspector Srinivasan.
The girl's body was sent to the government hospital for postmortem. The police team, which visited the scene with a sniffer dog, suspects she may have known her attacker(s). DIG Tamil Chandran and SP Senthil Kumari also inspected the place. "He must have lured her to the mango grove where he was drinking with his associates and sexually assaulted her before murdering her. It is possible that more than one person was involved in this ghastly crime," the police said.
The police have formed special probe teams. Three class-10 boys of the same school are being questioned. Some crucial pieces of evidence have been picked up from the scene of crime, sources said.
DC refrained from printing the victim's name and the gory pictures of her body to protect the dignity of the girl.
Meanwhile, The brutal rape and murder of 11-year-old school girl in Vellore once again brings to the fore the question of children’s safety and effective awareness.
Child welfare activists call for effective methods to prevent and handle such incidents.
Vidhya Reddy of Tulir, a centre for the prevention and healing of child sexual abuse, said the number of young people committing sexual violence has increased and she also felt that issues related to child abuse are reported extensively like never before.
Andrew Sesuraj, state convener of Tamil Nadu Child Rights Organisation, said, “Abuse against children has increased alarmingly. The ages of the children who are becoming victims to sexual abuse is reducing by the day. A few months old babies, one or two year old kids are becoming more vulnerable.” He said child-friendly police stations and more clarity on children’s courts will help to a greater extent.
Though there are laws to maintain a “child-friendly” situation, the effective implementation of such a conducive environment is the need of the hour. As per the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2014, “child-friendly” is any interpretation, practice, process, attitude, environment or treatment that is humane, considerate and in the best interest of the child.
Glory Gunaseeli, district child protection officer of Chennai, said family plays a vital role in bringing the issue forward and the child’s statement should be taken very seriously.
She added that young people are prone to a lot of sexual deviations.
According to Glory, “Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act, 2012, has been instrumental in bringing out more issues. Initially, only rape cases were considered and now any form of abuse or violation is taken seriously.”
Stating that children should be taught about ‘good touch’ and ‘bad touch’, Dr V. Balaji, member of the child welfare committee, said, “Most child abuse is committed by people known to the child. The child is too young to understand that he/she is being abused. The offenders misuse the trust of the child and the child’s parents.”
