Six youths were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly molesting seven minor inmates of a hostel in Wayanad.
Muhammed Shaffi , Deputy Superintendent of Police, Kalpetta, who is supervising the investigation, said that the girls were Class 8 and 9 students of a higher secondary school run by the hostel authorities.
The victims were being sexually exploited by the accused for the past two months. Mr. Shaffi said the hostel was nearly 500 metres away from the school and the accused used to assault the girls at an eatery adjacent to the hostel.
The issue came to light three days ago when a school official saw a girl under suspicious circumstances at the eatery. When she was interrogated the girl revealed that as many as seven girls, including her, were being sexually exploited by the accused, including the shop owner. The predators lured the girls by offering toffees and later showing pornographic films.
The police had got a medical examination of the girls as well as the accused done at the district hospital at Mananthavady which confirmed that they were sexually abused, Mr. Shaffi said.
The orphanage authorities said that they had brought the heinous crime to the notice of the police the moment they came to know of the incident. They said they would provide all support to the police to punish the culprits.
The accused were charged under various Sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 and Section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. They would be produced before the POCSO Court here in the evening, Mr. Shafi said.
Meanwhile, P.K. Sreemathi, MP, on Tuesday visited the institution and interacted with the girls. Ms. Sreemathi told mediapersons that the children were cruelly subjected to sexual abuse. Moreover, the accused took obscene photographs of the girls and threatened they would show it to others if the girls complained, she said. Ms. Sreemathi sought counselling for all students of the hostel.
