12-year-old’s suicide: priest, mother held

The man sexually assaulted the girl

A 29-year-old man who works as a priest at various temples was arrested by the Karunagapally police on Tuesday on charges of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl and abetting her suicide. The victim’s 49-year-old mother has also been arrested.

The police said the priest, an active member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, was the woman’s paramour and he exploited that relationship to sexually assault the woman’s daughter, a Class-7 student. The police identified the accused as Renju, residing at Alumkadavu, near Karunagapally.

Unable to bear the sexual assault by the priest, the girl committed suicide. The police said the girl was subjected to unnatural sex. Though the woman had objected to it, she did not make a complaint to the police or other authorities concerned.

The probe was directly supervised by City Police Commissioner S. Satheesh Bino.

Physical problems

Dr. Bino said that following continuous sexual assault the girl had developed serious health problems apart from mental stress. Assistant Commissioner of Police (Karunagapally) Siva Prasad, who arrested Renju, said the accused had illicit relationship with other women too. He was produced before the Karunagapally magistrate court and remanded in the district jail here.