Will to study no atrocity could break: Dalit teen raped by 59 men fights back

The girl is likely to be tutored at state-run after-care home where she has been kept till she is ready to attend classes at the ITI, one of the places where she was assaulted

Cynthia Chandran

The Dalit teen athlete who was allegedly raped by 59 people in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta is keen to complete her technical training course and is likely to be tutored at the state-run after-care home where she has been kept till she is ready to attend classes at the ITI, one of the places where she was assaulted.

“The girl was pursuing a technical training course at the ITI and is disappointed that she is not able to attend college. She is keen to study further. She will be able to study at the after-care home where she is currently lodged. But she will have to visit the college to write the exams and that will be problematic because her classmates and friends have been accused of raping her. They all have been arrested but returning to the same college will be difficult,” N. Rajeev, chairman of the Child Welfare Council (CWC) in Pathanamthitta district, told The Telegraph.

Rajeev said the victim was holding up and was in a good state of mind.

So far, 57 people, including four minors, have been arrested in connection with the case. Kerala police have approached Interpol to nab the remaining two accused who have fled to West Asia. Never in Kerala had so many people been booked for sexual exploitation in a single case.

On January 10, the teen athlete shook Kerala by revealing that she had since the age of 13 been sexually abused by 59 people, including her classmates at school, her neighbours, coaches and fellow athletes.

Her day-labourer parents were unaware of the sexual abuse their daughter had undergone for five years until a group of CWC counsellors arrived at their home during a door-to-door visit and stumbled on the horrifying atrocity. Asked routine questions about whether the girl was attending school, the victim confided in them about her ordeal.

Sources said the girl was first sexually abused at the age of 13 by her then boyfriend, who later handed her over to his friends. Some of the abuse allegedly happened at her home when the parents were out for work.

Later, the girl, a local-level athlete, began staying away from home on the pretext of attending overnight training camps. She has alleged sexual abuse there, too.

Twenty-nine cases have been registered in four police stations in Pathanamthitta under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Most of the cases have been registered at the Elavumthitta and Pathanamthitta police stations.

The Kerala police’s special investigation team, headed by deputy inspector-general S. Ajeetha Begum, is overseeing the investigation.

“The police’s job of identifying the alleged abusers had become easy because the names and numbers of at least 40 of the accused were saved on the mobile of the girl’s father without his knowledge. The suspects used to communicate with the girl on the father’s phone. The SIT has arrested 57 people so far,” Ajeetha told this paper.

“The girl is cooperating with the investigation. She is keen to have a better life and wants her rapists to be brought to book. The chargesheet is being prepared. Counselling is being provided to the victim and her parents,” she said.

Courtesy : The Telegraph

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