Kasaragod: Melparamba police have registered a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against Sneha Merlin, 25, on charges of sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl while she was asleep at her home in Kasaragod.

The case was registered following a complaint by the victim, a resident within the Melparamba police station limits. According to police, Merlin was a friend of the victim’s mother and allegedly committed the assault during one of her visits to the household. The crime came to light during a counselling session, Melparamba police said. 

“It is an old case,” the Melparamba Station House Officer said, adding that the victim did not disclose the incident earlier out of fear.

With this latest case, Sneha Merlin, a native of Pulliparamba near Taliparamba in Kannur, faces four POCSO cases, three of them registered by Taliparamba police. She was last arrested on March 14, 2025, for abusing a 12-year-old girl. The crime came to light when a school teacher discovered a mobile phone containing adult content in the girl's schoolbag. 

​Subsequent Childline counselling revealed that the woman had lured the girl with expensive gifts, including a gold bracelet. While Merlin was lodged in the Women’s Prison in Kannur, the survivor girl’s 15-year-old brother revealed that she had abused him multiple times. Taliparamba police had arrested her in the second case too. Earlier, Merlin was booked for abusing a 14-year-old boy and blackmailing him using recorded videos.

In connection with the Taliparamba offences, the police have charged Merlin under Sections 75 (sexual harassment) and 332 (house trespass) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), alongside Sections 5 (l) (penetrative sexual assault) and 9 (l) (aggravated sexual assault) of the POCSO Act. If convicted of these aggravated offences, she faces a minimum of 20 years in prison, which may extend to life imprisonment.

When she was arrested in March 2025, Merlin was set to open an auto spare parts shop. Taliparamba police said they had also booked her for assaulting CPI Kannur district leader Komath Muraleedharan with her helmet in Taliparamba.