Coimbatore: A 26-year-old man, who had married a 17-year-old girl and impregnated her, was arrested by the city police on Monday under the charges of raping the minor girl.
The arrested person has been identified as R Sathish, 26, of Ponmalai in Trichy. He was working in a vest company in Tirupur. The girl, a resident of PR Puram at Peelamedu, had passed Class X last year.
According to the all-woman police (east), Sathish met the girl while she was travelling to Trichy in a train with her family members. “Both of them exchanged mobile numbers and often spoke with each other. They fell in love. But the girl’s parents did not accept it,” said a police officer.
“Last year, the girl eloped with Sathish and married him in a temple. They were residing in a rental house in Trichy and later moved to Tirupur when they got job there,” the officer said.
Meanwhile, the girl became pregnant. However, in a few months’ time, she suffered a miscarriage, the officer said. “It seems Sathish had chided her for not taking healthy food and sent her to her parents’ home. Later, he visited Peelamedu. But the girl’s parents did not allow him to meet her. He was forced out of the house,” the officer added.
The girl’s parents tried to convince her for second marriage. But she refused and came back to Tirupur last week and started living with Sathish, the police said.
Subsequently, the girl’s parents lodged a complaint with the all-woman police (east). Police registered a case under Section 366 (A) of the Indian Penal Code on July 23. They arrested Sathish and later altered the case to Section 5 (l) read with 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act.
They produced Sathish before a judicial magistrate on Monday evening and later remanded him in judicial custody.
