Walayar in Palakkad district first hit the headlines in March 2017 when two sisters were found dead in their house within a span of two months.

Both the girls, a 9-year-old and a 14-year old, were found hanging from a shed where the family lived.

Read: Mirror deaths? 9-year-old found hanging in Kerala just as her sister was weeks ago

Later, it had come to light that both the girls were sexually assaulted. On Tuesday, a similar death was reported from Oppukuzhi in Walayar.

A 16-year old girl was found hanging at her home at Wayalar.

On Thursday, post-mortem reports suggested that the girl was sexually assaulted. The police had initially registered a case of unnatural death.

In the investigation that followed, there were strong suspicions that the girl was physically and sexually harassed. On Thursday, the police took two people into custody – one, a family friend of the girl and another friend of hers.

Walayar Sub Inspector Liby told TNM, “The girl was sexually harassed as per the post-mortem report. The investigation is still on.”

He however didn’t divulge details on the persons who were taken into custody. The girl’s father had died years ago and she is survived by her mother and a younger brother. Her mother has a small job in a private firm.

Mathrubhumi had reported that after the death of the sisters in Walayar, seven girls in the region had been subjected to sexual harassment. All of them were aged between 10 and 15. As many as 12 people have been arrested in connection with the incident, the report says.

The fact that in both the sisters’ death as well as that of the 16-year-old girl, people close to the family are the accused, has made the police more vigilant.

Police have also been trying to create awareness among the people to be cautious about such incidents. “Harassment cases were reported, but we have to check the number. Through Janamaitjri policing, we are trying to sensitise the people,” Liby said.

Meanwhile, the State Human Rights Commission has taken suo motu cognizance of the incident based on media reports. Commission member K Mohankumar has directed Palakkad police chief to submit a report in three weeks.