A 16-year-old girl who was raped by two men at Sipling village in Harur on Monday died at the Government Medical College Hospital on Saturday.
A Plus-Two student at a government school in Paapireddypatty, the girl had stepped into the fields near her house at Sipling where she was raped by two men, both aged 22. A local found the girl and took her back home where she recounted the trauma to her mother, and identified the accused.
Speaking to The Hindu on condition of anonymity, a villager who was helping the family to deal with the situation said the girl's mother called up the Kottapatty police station on Monday evening. The police called the girl and the mother to the station that night and a complaint was obtained from them. They did not take the complaint seriously, it is alleged. A call was then made to the district administration’s toll free number 1077, the source said.
‘Bribe demanded’
On Tuesday, Kottapatty police called them to the station again, and wrote down their complaint. The villager also alleged that the police demanded a bribe to take the complaint. After this, the girl was taken to a children’s home in Dharmapuri.
According to Chithra, the warden of the home, the girl was traumatised. “She could not stand. She would not talk or eat. She was menstruating when she was brutalised by the accused,” the warden said.
On Wednesday morning, the girl complained of nausea and vomited.
“We called her parents. We took her to the medical college hospital,” Ms. Chithra said. The hospital ran a blood test and a CT scan of the brain as she complained of headache. On Friday, a doctor told the family that an ENT specialist would also examine the girl, Ms. Chitra said.
On Saturday, the victim’s breathing became heavy. She was shifted to the intensive care unit, where she died subsequently.
‘Medical negligence’
The girl’s relatives staged a road blockade in the village. Her parents, both daily wage earners, refused to accept the body alleging medical negligence.
The dean of the medical college, Srinivasa Raj, said the CT scan showed mild cerebral edema. An MRI was planned for Saturday morning. “We were not told she was a rape victim, she was brought in with nausea and vomiting.”
She was earlier taken to the Harur Government Hospital, where an FIR was filed.
The Hindu tried contacting Superintendent of Police Bandi Gangadhar, but he was away on leave.
The police said a case was registered under Sections 6, 5(g) and 18 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. Kottapatty police station did not answer calls.
Sources in the special branch police said a search was on for the two accused.
