15 more men arrested by Police in Kerala Sexual Assault Case

In Pathanamthitta POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) case, where an 18-year-old Dalit woman claims that more than 60 men sexually attacked her, the Kerala police have detained 15 additional people. 

Twenty people, including youngsters, are reportedly in jail at the moment. Two distinct police stations have received nine First Information Reports (FIRs). The young woman said that the attack began when she was 13 and continued for the next five years.

Survivor said that around 60 individuals had abused her over the previous five years, beginning when she was 13, and up to 20 men are currently in custody and facing charges under the POCSO and SC/ST Atrocities Acts.

Advocate Gopan, the Child Welfare Committee Chief, told NewsX that the case was unusual in its scope and gravity. Because of the length of the abuse and the number of accused, this is an exceptional case. 

Those arrested have been charged under several sections of the POCSO Act, followed by the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, because the complainant was a juvenile at the time of the crimes.

NCW Requested The Report

All of the arrests were made in response to the survivor’s claims, and more are anticipated. The problem was discovered after the victim disclosed the abuse in a counselling session at her school. After then, the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) took up the matter and notified law enforcement. Inspector Vinod Krishnan and Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Nandakumar are currently in charge of the inquiry. The National Commission for Women has requested a report, and the Kerala State Women’s Commission also took up the case on its own initiative. 

The abuse reportedly started in 2019 when her 24-year-old neighbour, Subin, harassed her while she was 13 and took pictures of her in her pants. Additionally, it is said that he taped explicit recordings of her being sexually attacked when she was sixteen and shared them with other accused people, who went on to abuse her in the years that followed. The abuse took place in a number of places, including her school and public areas.

Her father’s phone, which she used to communicate with the abusers, yielded 40 people’s details to the police. According to reports, her parents were totally ignorant of this torture.

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