In a shocking incident, an eight-year-old girl, a survivor of sexual assault, was found dead in a pond in Vazaveedu near Vandanmedu in Kerala’s Idukki district on Saturday, May 7, four days after the arrest of the man accused of sexually assaulting her.
According to the police, on Saturday the girl went to a cardamom plantation with her grandmother, who is a worker there. While her grandmother was engaged in spraying pesticide in the plantation, the girl was playing with another girl and fell into a nearby pond. People in the surroundings rushed to the spot on hearing the screams of the other girl. Though they took the eight-year-old to a private hospital at Kattappana, she was declared dead.
The Kumily police had arrested 52-year-old Vijayan alias Kannan, a resident of Mel Vazaveedu near Kattappana, on May 3 in connection with the sexual assault of two minor girls in April. The police said that Vijayan sexually assaulted two girls below the age of 10 when their parents were away for work in the nearby cardamom plantations. He lured the girls to his house with sweets.
The parents filed a complaint against the accused after the girls told them about the assault. Vijayan, who was absconding ever since the complaint was filed, was arrested on May 3 on a tip-off received by Kumily Circle Inspector Jobin Antony. Police said that Vijayan was charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
According to Peermade Deputy Superintendent of Police Sanil Kumar CG, a preliminary probe revealed no foul play in the death of the girl and it looked like she had accidentally fallen into the pond. “However, we are conducting a detailed enquiry into the death,” the official said.
Kumily police have registered a case of unnatural death. “We will probe if the girl’s death is in any way connected to the arrest of the accused. The body has been shifted to the Idukki Medical College for autopsy,” Sanil Kumar said.