The accused, Anbazhagan of Kasturibhai Nagar in West Tambaram, is said to be working with the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) as a cleaner. The police said he allegedly took a seven-year-old girl to a nearby shop to buy chocolates and brought her home before sexually assaulting her.

The minor, who managed to escape from him and ran out of the house, was rescued by the neighbours. After she revealed the assault, they thrashed Anbazhagan before handing him over to the Tambaram all-woman police. A case was registered under the Pocso Act and he was remanded.

Similarly, a juvenile was nabbed by the police and sent to a government observation home for boys after he threatened a 16-year-old girl for rejecting his proposal. He allegedly kept following the girl and she lodged a complaint with the Vepery police. Meanwhile, a 17-year-old carpenter was detained under Pocso Act for sexually harassing a seven-year-old girl in Madhavaram. The accused took the girl, daughter of construction labourers, to the bathroom of an under-construction site and assaulted her, said the police. (Childline operates a toll-free helpline (1098) for children in distress across the country.)