Minor girl gang-raped at Attappady

Twelve people, including a non-tribal woman, were arrested from Sholayur, near Attappady, on Thursday night in a case of abduction and gang rape of a minor tribal girl hailing from Muttathukadu, near Anaikatty.

Those arrested were identified as Induja, 19, of Muttathukadu; Venus Rajan, 20, of Karara; Ratheesh, 20, Sivakumar, 22, and Kumar, 23, of Nellipathy; Rajesh, 25, Kumar, 22, and Sudheesh, 21, of Bhoothivazhi; Manikandan, 20, and Ramraj, 20, of Lower Sambarkode; and Aravind, 22, and Easwaran, 20, of Karayur.

The police are in search of Sundaran, 28, of Muttathukadu.

The accused were produced in courts at Mannarkkad and Palakkad on Friday and remanded in judicial custody.

The Agali police recorded a First Information Report under Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. In her statement, the victim reportedly said she was taken to many places at Attappady and raped. She named all those involved in the crime.

Attappady Assistant Superintendent of Police Sujith Das said the 12-year-old girl was taken from her home on Saturday morning by Induja, her neighbour, convincing her grandmother that she was taking her to the annual festival of Mariamman Temple at Pudur, a little away from Muttathukadu. Her parents, labourers, were away at their workplace.

The police said the arrested confessed to the crime and the majority of the accused were first-time offenders. They sexually abused the girl at different parts of the region paying money to Induja and Sundaran. Half of the arrested were college students.

The police claimed the arrested woman was part of a local mafia that lured minor girls into sex trade.

The police did not take action though the parents of the girl filed a missing complaint with the Sholayur police on Monday.

The parents approached the Kerala Mahila Samakhya Society seeking its intervention on Wednesday. Its activists contacted Attappady block panchayat president Eswary Resan, who took up the case with Mr. Sujith Das.

On Wednesday, the girl was traced to Muttathukadu. She was shifted to a rehabilitation centre in Palakkad along with her parents. The police said provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act would be invoked against the arrested apart from charges for gang raping a minor.