On a single day, the Tirunelveli police reported two cases of sexual assault — one of a teenaged girl and the other involving a five-year-old girl child.
The twin incidents came as a rude shock to the people as the Tirunelveli Junction police picked up four persons for sexually assaulting a teenage girl from Madurai who arrived here on Thursday night.
Police sources said that following a domestic problem, the 14-year-old girl from Tirupparankundram in Madurai boarded a train and reached Tirunelveli junction shortly before midnight on Thursday. On seeing the girl moving around alone, Velladurai from C.N. village took the girl to a secluded place near the railway junction here and sexually assaulted her.
Later, he allegedly called three of his friends who reached there and gang-raped the girl studying in the Ninth class. When she screamed for help, people nearby rushed to the spot and caught all of them after a hot chase. They were handed over to the police who are interrogating the four persons.
In Tenkasi, the district police have nabbed another youth for allegedly sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl child. Police said K. Pauldurai (37) of Kalakkodi Street in Tenkasi took the girl from the same area when she was playing in the street on Thursday evening. After taking her to a secluded place near Thirunagar Colony, he sexually assaulted the girl.
Locals initially thrashed Pauldurai, but he escaped from them and went underground. However, the police nabbed him on Friday and remanded him to judicial custody.
Tenkasi police have registered a case under Section 366 of the Indian Penal Code (kidnapping the girl), 377 (sexual activities against the order of nature), 3 (C) Prevention of Sexual Offences Against Children Act.
