A 13-year-old girl was strangulated and abandoned in a forest area in Gandharvakottai of Pudukottai district on Monday. The girl who was admitted to Thanjavur Medical College Hospital did not respond to treatment and passed away on Tuesday.
The 13-year-old girl of Nodiyur village in Gandharvakottai of Pudukottai district went to draw water from a pipeline around half a kilometre away from her house, when she was attacked and abandoned inside the forest in an unconscious state. According to Pudukottai police, when the girl failed to return home even after an hour, the parents started searching for her. Since the parents were unable to find her near the water source, they started searching for her inside a nearby forest.
“The parents found the girl inside the forest in an unconscious state with strangulation marks on her neck. The parents tried to revive her but their efforts failed,” said a police personnel. The parents soon informed the police who rushed the minor to Thanjavur Medical College Hospital. However, on Tuesday the girl died.
The police have registered a under Section 12 (sexual harassment) of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Section 307 (attempt to murder) of Indian Penal Code.
A senior police official from the district who was at the scene of crime when talking to TNM says that both the post mortem and gynaecology reports of the young girl do not show any evidence of sexual or penetrative assault.
"When the complainant came to us, they wrote that the girl had been strangled and her clothes disarranged. When we found the body, her chudidhar bottom was missing. At this point of the investigation, we cannot confirm if there was any sexual intent, but we have included section 12 of the POCSO act. It is necessary for us to do so when private parts are exposed. We have four suspects as of now and once we get a clearer picture of what happened we can alter the sections," a police officer said.
"Since there were ligature marks around the neck, we have registered a case under attempt to murder. We will trace the culprit by Tuesday evening or on Wednesday,” said another police officer.
Two investigators TNM spoke to confirmed that for now the investigation was focused on people in 2 or 3 villages in the area.
The police are yet to receive the autopsy report of the girl, following which the case will be altered to murder. However, the police have collected the finger prints from the crime scene and further investigations are continuing.
