A 36-year-old man was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting his six-year-old daughter in his home, the Jeevanbimanagar police said.
The mother filed a complaint against her husband, who runs a laundry business, on Monday morning, following which the child was taken to Bowring Hospital. The alleged abuse happened last Tuesday after she went to bed, the mother told the police on Sunday.
The couple, which hails from Ramasamudram in Madanapalle in Andhra Pradesh), has two daughters, aged six and 10. Narrating what happened, the mother said she was awakened by her daughter’s screams that night. The child and the father were sleeping on the floor while she and the older girl were on the cot. The mother said the light was on and she caught her husband in a compromising position.
Bloodstains
Her worst fears were confirmed when she spotted bloodstains on the sheet. Soon, her daughter complained of pain in her lower abdomen. When she took her child to the gynaecologist in her area, he recommended a private hospital nearby.
The hospital confirmed the sexual assault on Sunday evening and the mother went to the police. Later that night, the father was arrested.
Earlier instances
The official complaint was registered at the J.B Nagar police station on Monday morning. The anguished mother said when she confronted her husband, he denied everything. Since the incident, her daughter apparently reported to her about earlier instances where her father’s actions had made her uncomfortable, and he had told her to keep this from her.
“From what the police have conveyed, he has admitted that he had attempted to sexually abuse her earlier as well,” she told The Hindu.
Worried about future
Sitting shyly on her mother’s lap, her older sister holding her hand for comfort, the victim was listening to her mother narrate the traumatic events of last week. She has not been going to school for the past one week. Her older sister said she keeps getting asked questions about her sister’s absence. “I just tell that them she is not well.”
The mother said she is now more concerned about her daughters’ future. She is trying to secure a job so that she can support them. “I don’t want to go back to our laundry business as people will question me about what happened and why my husband may not be working there,” she said, adding that she wants to move home to another location.
‘Punish him’
“I grew fearful on Saturday night and replaced the cot with a double cot so that both my daughters could sleep with me while my husband slept on the floor.”
Asked why she did not report the incident earlier, she said she was worried about the stigma. However once the doctor confirmed the abuse, she filed the complaint.
“I don’t care if my husband continues to stay in jail. I want him to be punished for this act,” she told The Hindu .
