The Kandamangalam police on Friday arrested a 25-year-old man in connection with the sexual assault of an 18-year-old Dalit girl near the Pallicherry railway gate on Wednesday. The prime accused, identified as M. Ayyanar, has been arrested while a search has been launched for two of his friends who are still at large.
According to police, the victim, working at a private factory, was in a relationship with a youth hailing from Sooramangalam in Puducherry. The two had reached Pallicherry on their motorcycle and were chatting near the Railway gate when the accused Ayyanar and his friends who were reportedly drinking nearby, spotted them. The group assaulted them and gang raped the girl before fleeing the scene.
The girl has been admitted to the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (Jipmer). The police have booked a case against the accused under Sections 376 (rape), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocity) Act.
