A day after the death of an 8-year-old girl at a village in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvallur district, a 74-year-old man, Balu, has been arrested for sexually abusing her 3 months ago. The sexual abuse came to light after a video clip of the crime was circulated by some young men from the village. Police have also arrested five men who shared the video of the crime on various Whatsapp groups.
On July 24 evening, the victim went outside to defecate, as her house lacks proper sanitation facilities, where she was bitten by a snake. The incident took place at Puthiya Erumai Vetti Palayam village, near Shozhavaram in Tiruvallur district. Later, she was rushed to Stanley Government Hospital in Chennai, but on July 25, around 09.30 am, she died due to the snakebite.
The family members conducted the last rites on Monday evening after the postmortem. “Postmortem confirmed that she has died of snakebite”, a police official told TNM, eliminating the suspicion that her death could be a murder.
On July 25 evening, some youths in the village started sharing her video on various WhatsApp groups, in which an old man could be seen sexually abusing her and this happened nearly 3 months ago. The family members came to know about the video and her aunt complained about the man who abused her and the other five young men who shared her video, at the Ambattur All Women Police Station.
According to the police, she was the youngest child in her family. The girl has three brothers, who are residing in Villupuram with her grandparents. She lost her father when she was four years old. But, before that, when she was just two years old, her mother left the village. The victim was raised by her aunt, who is working in a brick kiln in the village, ever since the child lost her father. She was studying in class 4 in a government school. The investigation into the case is underway and would reveal whether the offence was frequent.
Besides Balu, who sexually abused the girl, Suresh, Vijayakumar, Ramesh, Baskar, and Kannan – the persons who shared the video, were arrested by the police on July 26. “Cases have been registered under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act against Balu and under the IT Act for capturing and sharing obscene videos”, police told TNM. The accused were produced before a Mahila Court in Tiruvallur on July 26. They were remanded in judicial custody and sent to Puzhal prison.