A 14-year-old girl in Andhra Pradesh was allegedly raped by an acquaintance, who has been identified as a neighbour of her 'husband,' a few days ago. Afraid of going home to her mother and having to explain what happened to her, she decided to go to a friend’s place in a nearby village. On the way to the village, a homeguard, Ashok Chakravarthy, found her alone in the middle of the night, and offered help by showing his ID and assuring her that he was a police officer on duty. But instead of helping her, Ashok and his acquaintance, Durga Rao, allegedly confined her for nearly 20 days and sexually abused the girl.
The terrible events in the girl’s life came to light when the Tenali police, acting on a missing person’s complaint from the girl’s mother, traced the girl to her place of confinement in Guntur town on Thursday. Police have now arrested the three men who allegedly raped the minor girl.
Tenali One Town Circle Inspectoar (CI) M Rajesh told TNM that while the minor girl had been married last year, she had been living with her mother in Muttemsetti Palem village of Tenali mandal. The man she was 'married' to lived in Bapatla, and his neighbour, Karlapalem Naveen Kumar, was acquainted with the girl.
“On July 26, Naveen took the girl on his bike to some fields near Moparru village and raped her. He then dropped her off at the Vykuntapuram Temple (in Tenali, around 11 pm). The girl was afraid of going back to her mother, so she decided to go to a friend’s house in Perecherla village. That night, around 1.30 am, Ashok Chakravarthy and Durga Rao found her when they were going somewhere on a bike. Ashok showed his ID, and told her that he was a homeguard on beat duty and would help her reach her destination. Instead, the two men took her to Durga Rao’s house, and four days later, moved her to a different place,” CI Rajesh said, adding that the men allegedly kept her confined and sexually assaulted her during this period.
Police said that there was a delay in the girl’s mother filing a missing person’s complaint, as the girl had previously left home for brief durations without notice. However, the mother was worried when she didn’t hear from her daughter for nearly two weeks, and approached the Tenali One Town police.
Police then traced the girl to the house where she had been confined in Guntur town, by Ashok and Durga Rao.
DySP (Deputy Superintendent of Police) Srilakshmi told the media that Naveen was arrested on August 17 afternoon, while the home guard Ashok and Durga Rao were also arrested on August 18. The accused have been booked under relevant sections of the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act, as well as Section 366 (abduction) and Section 376 (2)(a) (being a police officer commits rape).
The girl, whose father is deceased, was married last year, after discontinuing her education at Class 7. CI Rajesh said that the Women Development and Child Welfare Department has been informed about the child marriage, and a case is yet to be registered on the girl’s family.
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