Kannur: A Congress party leader was arrested here on Friday on the charge of sexually abusing a nine-year-old girl for the past few years, the police said.
P P Babu, 59, was arrested after district childline authorities informed police about the abuse which was revealed by the girl in a counselling session.
Congress sources said Babu, a Seva Dal state-level coordination committee member, was expelled from the party following his arrest.
"We were alerted by childline authorities. We produced him before the court which remanded him to judicial custody.
It seems like the girl was suffering the abuse for past few years. She revealed her plight to childline authorities," the police said.
Child sexual abuse in Kerala is still a worrying issue according to the latest statistics by childline. Malappuram tops the list followed by Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam based on the cases reported with childline.
While Malappuram reported 99 child sexual abuse cases, Thiruvananthapuram reported 98 cases. Kottayam and Alappuzha are on the bottom of the list.
(With inputs from PTI)
