5 arrested under Pocso Act

Coimbatore: The all women police (west) have arrested a 28-year-old man who married a Pollachi-based minor girl, his parents, the girl’s mother and a construction worker who raped the girl, under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, 2012.
The mother of the 16-year-old girl had married her off to the 28-year-old man last August, police sources said. “The couple was staying in Coimbatore city. P Ranjith Kumar, a 23-year-old construction worker from Trichy, who was staying in the locality, befriended her and eloped with her 15 days ago. He raped her several times,” a police officer said.
The girl’s husband lodged a complaint at the Variety Hall Road police station claiming that his 20-year-old wife had gone missing along with Kumar. Police registered a missing case.
A police team rescued the girl a few days ago. During interrogation, police came to know that she was only 16 years old and transferred the case to the all women police (west), who registered a case under sections 5 (l) (penetrative sexual assault), 6 (punishment for penetrative sexual assault) of the Pocso Act against the girl’s husband and Kumar on Friday. The duo was also booked under Section 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing a woman to compel her marriage) of IPC. The minor girl’s parents-in-law and her mother were also booked under Section 17 (punishment for abetment) of Pocso and sections 9 and 10 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.
All of them were arrested and lodged in the Coimbatore Central Prison. Police are conducting inquiry with the girl’s father.