Coimbatore: 2 men land in jail for marrying minors, sexually abusing them

COIMBATORE: Two men, both aged 26 years, were arrested on Monday night in as many separate incidents in the district for marrying minor girls and sexually abusing them.
One of them was arrested by the Pollachi all-woman police for raping and impregnating a 16-year-old girl.
A daily wage labourer, he has five assault cases pending against him at Pollachi west and Anaimalai police stations.
According to a police officer, the man was in love with the minor, who was residing with her parents, for more than a year. “They tied the knot in a temple some five months ago. The marriage isn’t legally valid as the girl is a minor.”
The girl’s mother lodged a complaint with the Pollachi all-woman police on Monday, when she came to know her daughter was three months pregnant.
Inspector Nirmala Devi registered a case against the accused under Section 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc) of the Indian Penal Code, Sections 5 (l), (j) (ii) read with 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and Section 9 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act.
Police arrested him on Monday night and produced him before ta special court for Pocso cases that remanded him in judicial custody on Tuesday afternoon.
In the second incident, a man from Podanur was arrested on Monday night for raping another 16-year-old girl.
The Ramanathapuram all-woman police said the man befriended the girl during the lockdown when he went to play cricket on a ground that was near her house. “He was engaged in fabrication work. They fell in love and tied the knot in a temple on Saturday. He then took her to his friend’s house at Chettipalayam, where he sexually assaulted her.”
On Monday, the girl’s mother lodged a complaint with the Ramanathapuram all-woman police, who registered a case against Manikandan under Section 366 of the IPC, Sections 7 and 8 of the Pocso Act and Section 9 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act. He was also remanded in judicial custody on Tuesday.