Tamil Nadu: 16-year-old girl, pregnant after rape, ends life

TIRUVANNAMALAI: A 16-year-old tribal girl, who consumed rat poison in an attempt to end her life after she found she was pregnant, died despite treatment at the Tiruvannamalai Government General Hospital on Tuesday.
Police said she was repeatedly raped by her neighbour in a village near Tiruvannamalai. Tiruvannamalai all-women police arrested the neighbour G Hariprasad, 27, a driver from Kallakurichi town, who was staying in a house on rent, on charges of raping her, leading to her pregnancy.The girl, who tested positive for Covid-19 infection, underwent an abortion and died on Tuesday after battling for life for 12 days at the Tiruvannamalai GH.
Police also arrested Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) headmaster I Kumaragurubaran, 51, and hostel warden T Shenbagavalli, 37, both hailing from Tindivanam taluk on charges of failing to report the crime to the authorities. EMRS, located near Kovalam in Chengalpet district, has been established by the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry to impart education to scheduled tribe children.
The minor returned to the residential school after the government lifted lockdown restrictions and reopened the schools in the state a couple of months back. She fainted in the school on December 22 last year. The hostel warden took her to a nearby government hospital.
The doctor found that the girl was pregnant and told the warden about her condition. The warden alerted the headmaster. The two called her parents and asked them to take her home without informing about her pregnancy. Her parents took her home the same day.
Tiruvannamalai AWPS inspector A Anbarasi said the minor attempted to commit suicide at her house by consuming rat poison on January 7. She was admitted to Tiruvannamalai GH where doctors declared that the girl was six months pregnant, startling her parents and relatives. The girl remained unconscious for four or five days. Police began inquiries when she regained consciousness. She revealed that she resorted to end her life after she became pregnant after being repeatedly raped by her neighbour Hariprasad during lockdown last year.
Police booked Hariprasad under IPS sections 6 (punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Pocso Act, 2012, 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian penal code (IPC) and different sections of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (prevention of atrocities) Act, 1989 and arrested him on Sunday.
Police also booked the school headmaster and hostel warden under sections 21 (1) (punishment for failure to report a case) of Pocso Act, 306 of IPC and different sections of SC/ST act and arrested them on Monday. Police produced them before a magistrate who remanded them in judicial custody.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)