The Kerala police on Monday identified 58 people as accused in the alleged sexual assault of an 18-year-old Dalit girl over the past five years in Pathanamthitta district.
Pahananmthitta district police chief V G Vinod Kumar said that there are 58 accused in the case of the rape of the Dalit girl who is a sportsperson. “All the accused in the case have been identified. One of the accused is abroad, efforts are being made to bring him back to the country,” he said
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The sexual assault that occurred in Pathanamthitta is described as more serious than the infamous Suryanelli rape case in which 42 people were accused. So far, 29 cases have been registered in Pathanamthitta, Elavumthitta, Malayalapuzha and Pandalam police stations.
With the arrest of 11 more persons on Monday , the total number of arrests in the case has gone to 43. Police sources said the arrests of the detained individuals will be formally recorded on Monday.
The police investigation revealed that the girl had also been subjected to gang rape five times. The rape took place in a car parked near a rubber plantation at Mandiram Padi. After the assault, the girl was handed over to two others. The girl was also raped at the Pathanamthitta General Hospital, with four persons involved in that incident.
On another occasion, the girl was taken to a plantation area in Prakkanam and raped near a closed shop.
An 18-year-old Dalit girl has been sexually abused by more than 60 people over the past five years in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta. The incident came to light when volunteers from the Kerala Mahila Samakhya Society, during a routine visit, encountered the girl and learned about her ordeal.
Acting swiftly, they alerted the district Child Welfare Committee (CWC) members, who in turn informed the police. Following this, the Sub-Inspector of the Women’s Cell at Elavumthitta recorded the statement of the victim and registered two FIRs on Thursday.
According to the police, when the girl was 13, Subin, the son of her father’s friend, lured her by showing obscene visuals on his mobile phone. He also took the girl’s nude pictures on his phone. When the girl was 16, Subin took her to a secluded rubber plantation in their locality and assaulted her sexually. He also recorded videos of the act on his phone. This was followed by regular sexual abuse, the police said.
The probe revealed that the visuals were shared among Subin’s friends, who also sexually abused her. Subin was arrested on Friday. Fresh cases were registered on Saturday in the order of the places where the girl was raped.
She was sexually abused at various locations, including her school, the police said. As per the girl’s statement, the perpetrators used to communicate with her through her father’s mobile phone, without his knowledge.
