A Mumbai-based Malayali woman who was arrested by Malayankeezhu police in Thiruvananthapuram in an attempt to murder case and was in jailed for 47 days has revealed that the police did not take any action to protect her or her 6-year-old daughter from her abusive second husband. Speaking to Asianet News after her release on December 1, Wednesday, the woman said that the police made her and her daughter stay with the man accused of sexually abusing her child — her second husband. This, even after medical reports proved that the child was sexually abused.
According to the woman, she got married to an Indian Air Force officer on July 15 at a temple in Thiruvananthapuram. She alleged that her 6-year-old daughter was raped by her second husband two days later on July 17. After that, he snatched her phone and kept her confined to her house. "He threatened to kill me and my daughter if I spoke out. Once I tried to speak to some neighbours and he threatened us," the woman said.
Later, towards the end of August, the Air Force officer filed a complaint against the woman alleging that she tried to steal gold and kidnap his 16-year-old son. When police reached their house to inquire about the complaint, the woman told police that her daughter was sexually assualted and that she has been confined to the house. "That day the police left us there, and the next day I somehow reached the police station and filed a complaint," the woman said. The police filed the complaint and conducted a medical check up which reportedly showed that the child was sexually assaulted. The survivor then gave a statement to the district magistrate.
"I told them I was scared to go back to his house. But the police dropped us at his house," the woman said. That night he tried to assault her and he was injured in the tussle. The next day, an attempt to murder case was filed against the woman and she was sent to jail on September 2. The accused Air Force officer was also arrested under POCSO, but came out on bail after 14 days.
The woman also alleged that her husband caused the injuries to himself in order to trap her in the attempt to murder case. Though a POCSO case was filed against the officer, the police delayed his arrest, she said.
The child was shifted to a rescue home after the mother was arrested. "If the police had shifted us to a safe place that night, I wouldn't have been trapped," the woman said.