Malappuram: A 12-year-old girl, sexually abused by a family member, was virtually kidnapped and admitted to a mental asylum by her relatives in a bid to hush up the case, it has emerged. The child was under care at a rescue home after the crime, but was taken away ostensibly by her kin after she went to school to write her annual exam.
Meanwhile, the accused is still at large and the police officers, who had ignored the complaint made by the rescue home authorities about the child's disappearance, have not been disciplined either.
The child was returned to the care centre only after five days, that too after the state Child Welfare Council approached top police officers for action. What has emerged is that a bid was made to pressurize the child, project her as mentally deranged and weaken the credibility of her statement.
It is also alleged that the officers at the Malappuram police district headquarters had tried to delay action on the case that had happened within the Areekode police station limits.
In March, the child had told the school counsellor about the abuse. The school, instead of seeking legal action, informed her family, which hushed up the crime. When the accused made another bid on her, she informed the Childline, who presented her before the Child Welfare Council and shifted her to the care centre.
However, she disappeared from the school exam hall after she was brought there to write the annual exam. A volunteer, who had accompanied the child lodged a complaint at the police station, but was asked to wait as the sub-inspector was not available. The police later adopted the stand that the complaint will not hold as the child had reached home.
It was the police themselves who later informed the rescue home that the child has been admitted to a mental-care centre in Kozhikode by her own family. The rescue home then wrote to the police that the child has a good record in her studies as well as extra-curricular activities, and hence sending her to a mental asylum was utter nonsense. There was no response until the Child Welfare Council intervened. A fresh bid made by the family at the High Court to get the child under their custody did not work and she was sent back to the rescue home.
Read more: Latest Kerala news