Pathanamthitta, Kerala: As the probe continues in the rape and sexual abuse of an 18-year-old Dalit athlete in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district, neighbours and classmates are among those named as accused in the case that has seen 44 arrests, so far.
The serial sexual abuse and blackmail was allegedly going on for the past five years since the age of 13. Her exploitation took place at multiple places, including secluded places like rubber plantations, according to the police.
Of the total 30 cases, the maximum are registered in Pathanamthitta. Cases are also lodged at Elavumthitta, Pandalam, and Malayalappuzha.
Overall, there are 58 accused in these cases registered under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and the Information Technology Act, among others.
Superintendent of Police (SP), Pathanamthitta, V.G. Vinod Kumar is heading the Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising 25 officers to probe these cases.
The case came to light after the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) sent a report on the girl’s plight to the Pathanamthitta SP, after which the Elavamthitta police filed the first FIR on Saturday. Though the girl had mentioned 62 names, police said necessary evidence was lacking in the case of four individuals.
“All the arrested are aged between 18 and 30,” a police officer at the Pathanamthitta Deputy SP office told ThePrint, adding that all the accused would be arrested in a day or two.
Advocate Peroor Sunil, a member of the Pathanamthitta Child Welfare Committee (CWC), told ThePrint that the survivor had been kept in a media blackout to spare her from having to relive the details of the years of abuse.
“We are keeping her away from the media glare and news reports. We are not even showing her newspapers. Only police are visiting her to record statements,” Sunil told ThePrint Monday.
The CWC, he said, is focusing on providing mental health support and counselling to her. “We have also requested the police to provide mental health assistance to her family.”
How it unfolded
The ordeal began when the survivor was befriended by the first accused through Instagram when she was 13, according to Sunil. Back then, she was active in sports at the district level.
The accused, Subin, now 24, shot a video of their intimate moment without her consent then and allegedly started blackmailing her, the CWC member said.
According to an investigating officer, the girl was later gang-raped by many of Subin’s friends at different locations in the district.
“The girl was picked up by many of the accused from the Pathanamthitta private bus stand and was taken to secluded locations,” the officer said, adding that on many occasions she was gang-raped. “Recently, she was getting physically abused and some of them started threatening her. She couldn’t take it.”
Vinod Krishna, the station house officer (SHO) at Elavumthitta where the first FIR was registered, said the accused also involved the girl’s neighbours and her classmates. The police haven’t started probing the background and details of the accused as they are trying to record the arrests first, the SHO said.
Four of the accused were juveniles at the time of the incident, he added.
With over 40 already arrested, the Pathanamthitta incident has brought back the horror that was reported nearly three decades ago. In 1996, a 16-year-old girl from Idukki district was kidnapped and subsequently gang-raped for over a month by 37 individuals. In 2000, the Kottayam special court handed 35 of them to terms ranging from four years to life.
Survivor confided in Kudumbashree volunteer
According to Sunil, the case unfolded when the volunteers of ‘Snehitha’, the gender help desk with the Kudumbashree visited the survivor’s house in December. The survivor confided her ordeal to the volunteers, who in turn reported to the district CWC.
Sunil told ThePrint that the matter reached the CWC office on 8 December after which a five-member team met with the survivor regularly for two weeks following which they sent a detailed report to the SP.
Launched by the Kerala government in 1997, the Kudumbashree is a women’s community network spread across the state. With the goal to empower women and eradicate poverty from the grassroots, it works under the local body governments.
Snehitha is a gender help desk working under the Kudumbashree mission that provides counselling and rehabilitation to women in distress. Its volunteers also conduct door-to-door visits at times as well as provide legal assistance to survivors of sexual abuse.
The sexual harassment that started when the girl was 13 was continuing till November last year, Sunil said. “The girl was scared to reveal it to someone as the abusers had her videos. She didn’t know who to trust.”
She, according to the CWC member, was communicating with the accused using the phone of her father, a coolie worker, who didn’t know much about using a smartphone and hence the chats went unnoticed.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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