A minor girl in Andhra Pradesh saved her younger sister from sexual assault by an acquaintance, by attacking him with a sickle. The two sisters, aged 17 and 15 years, were grazing their cattle in an open field in their village of Tirumalareddypalli, in Ramasamudram mandal of Chittoor district, when the incident took place.
According to Ramasamudram Sub-Inspector of Police Ravi Kumar, Sankarappa, the accused, was acquainted with the girls’ family. The two families often got into arguments whenever the flock of sheep belonging to the girls’ family wandered into Sankarappa’s land.
“Even on the day before this incident, Sankarappa’s wife and the girls’ father had quarrelled over this issue,” SI Ravi Kumar said.
On Saturday, the two young girls had taken their sheep out to graze in an open field (which did not belong to either family) when Sankarappa saw them alone. As he allegedly attempted to sexually assault the 15-year-old and grabbed her by her hand, her elder sister picked up her sickle and struck the man on his shoulder, to protect her sister.
The girls have since registered a complaint with the Ramasamudram police, and Sankarappa has been booked under sections 354a (sexual harassment), 354d (stalking), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman)of the Indian Penal Code, and section 8 (punishment for sexual assault) of the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act.
Sankarappa, in turn, has also registered a complaint with the police over the attack, and police have also booked the 17-year-old under section 324 of the Indian Penal Code (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) for hurting him with the sickle.
Earlier in September, a man in East Godavari district was arrested after his daughters recorded a video of him slamming a dumbbell into his wife’s head. The man was accused of harassing his wife and two young daughters for a long time.