CHENNAI: A couple who complained that their 10-year-old daughter had been raped repeatedly by a neighbour were beaten by an Anna Nagar all-women police inspector and made to stay at the station till the early hours of Aug 31.
The survivor, a Class VI student of a govt school, stood witness to the ill-treatment of her parents in the presence of the accused, Sathish, a water can supplier in the neighbourhood. He is yet to be arrested though the FIR was registered on Aug 31. The girl's father is a construction worker and her mother a cook.
Though the incident came to light on Aug 29 and the case registered on Aug 31, the child is yet to get the mandatory counselling by a District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) or anyone from the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).
On Aug 29, the girl's mother returned from work in the evening and found her writhing with pain in the stomach. She took her to a private clinic where a doctor examined said she had been raped. The girl was referred to Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital (KMCH) where doctors said she had been sexually assaulted repeatedly.
Informed by KMCH authorities, an Anna Nagar all-women police team visited the hospital. Contrary to rules, inspector Raji asked the mother to bring her Aadhaar card and other particulars to the station and held 'inquiry' with the child. (TOI is in possession of the audio clip).
The inspector is heard repeatedly asking the girl why she mentioned Sathish's name and the girl saying she did it by mistake. She also tells police her cousin had sexually assaulted her in 2022.
The survivor told her mother later that she didn't mention Sathish's name to police because he had threatened to orphan her by doing away with her parents and her younger sister.
After the 'inquiry' with the survivor, the inspector summoned her parents to the station where they were asked to stay till the early hours of the next day.
When TOI contacted inspector Raji, she said, "You should not ask about Pocso cases to the investigation officer."
Counsellor yet to be assigned to child When we entered the inspector's room around 1am, police attacked me. A male constable hit my husband repeatedly on the back," the girl's mother told TOI. She is now being assisted by the coordinator of a service organisation AIMS, Kanya.
When contacted, inspector Raji told TOI, "You should not ask about Pocso cases to the investigation officer. It is a sensational case." TOI then contacted Anna Nagar deputy commissioner Snehapriya who denied any such attack on the complainant at Anna Nagar all-women police station.
The girl is now at KMCH and the CWC is yet to forward the case to the DCPO to assign a child counsellor to help her.
CWC chairperson Rajkumar Muthukrishnam told TOI: "I was not aware of this case. As per procedure, we will forward it to the DCPO and assign a counsellor to speak to the girl."
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