A day after a massive protest erupted over the death of a 16-year-old schoolgirl, who was allegedly raped by two men in the tribal hamlet of Sipling in Harur in Dharmapuri district, the police arrested one of the accused from Yercaud in Salem district on Sunday evening.
Sources in the Special Branch police said that the accused Sathish, 22, was secured from the hill station where he was hiding and his accomplice, Ramesh, would be tracked soon.
Residents staged a protest on Sunday prompting Collector S. Malarvizhi to meet them and assure them of action “within 48 hours”. The girl’s body remained in the Dharmapuri Government Hospital morgue as her family demanded an autopsy by a team that would include a doctor from their community.
According to the girl’s father Ganesan*, on November 5, when he returned home, “My child told me that she went to the odai (stream) to relieve herself, and these two men raped her.”
In the evening, his son Ramesh* went to the Kottapatty police station to file a complaint. The next morning, the family was summoned for ‘inquiry.’
“I can’t read or write. They showed me a paper and said it was written that the two men will be given life sentence and that I should sign there,” said Ganesan. Then he, his wife and daughter were driven to the Harur GH in the police vehicle. “A police woman asked me to pay ₹2,000 for the drive. I paid, but they asked us to wait outside the hospital. She and another man went some distance, talked to each other and came back. This time, they said, they will take us to Dharmapuri GH, and asked me for ₹2,000 more,” he alleged.
‘No hospital record’
Instead, on Tuesday evening, the police took them to the Vallalar children’s home attached to the CWC reception unit in Dharmapuri.
Kottapatty Inspector Muthukrishnan could not be reached for comment.
CWC member and warden of the children’s home, Chithra, said the police had brought the girl saying she was a victim of attempted rape and claimed to have taken her to the Harur GH. But no hospital record was provided. The CWC too did not insist on it.
(*Names of relatives changed to protect victim’s identity)
