Minor girl sexually assaulted and killed in Tamil Nadu

A 13-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted and killed near Pudukottai district, Tamil Nadu, on May 18.

The minor studying Class 8 from Nodiyur village near Gandharvakottai had stepped out to fetch water from a pipe that was about 1.5 kilometres away from her house.

Since she did not return for more than half an hour, the victim’s mother went in search for her and found her struggling for life at a eucalyptus farm in the locality. On being alerted, police rushed to the spot and rushed her to Thanjavur Medical College Hospital for treatment.

According to police, the girl was found struggling to breathe with her clothes partially removed. Gandharvakottai police registered a case under Section 12 (sexual harassment) of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and 307 (attempt to murder) of Indian Penal Code.

However, she died on the early hours of Tuesday without responding to the treatment. So, police are in the process of altering the sections in the FIR once the autopsy reports are confirmed.

“We will be altering the section attempt to murder into murder. However, according to doctors, who examined, there was no trace of rape. But, a detailed autopsy report would reveal whether she was subjected to sexual harassment,” a police personnel part of the investigation told The Federal.

“Since it was raining yesterday, if there was any struggle between the victim and the accused, we could have found it in the scene of crime (SoC). But, there was no such trace of chasing or dragging the victim girl. As of now, there is no external injury. The girl was strangulated to death,” the police added.

Since it is a small town, police suspect the hands of the locals in the incident. Police have also collected some fingerprints from the SoC and are probing into the matter.

Meanwhile, district Superintendent of Police PV Arunsakthi Kumar formed four special teams to arrest the accused involved in the incident.