Grandfather, 5 others held for abusing girl

The accused - C Manikkam (70), his son Bhaskar (40), Bhaskar’s son Venkat and Sasikumar and two other persons Kannan and Ramesh, were arrested under the POCSO Act. A source said that the girl was Manikkam’s granddaughter and added that the girl’s father died a few years ago after which her mother too abandoned her. Reared by her grandmother, the girl was sexually exploited by her own grandfather and uncles for a long time.

Recently, the Child Welfare officials received an alert and they immediately rescued her and sent her to governmentrun home. During counselling, the girl opened up about the torture she went through and based on her statement a complaint was lodged at Kotturpuram police station. The accused were remanded to judicial custody, while police are searching for one more person.