Chennai: Class VII girl raped by 22 for 7 months, 18 held

TNN
July 17, 2018

Chennai, Jul 17: At least 22 men including security guards, elevator operators and plumbers at an apartment complex in Purasawalkam here sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl with a hearing disorder for more than seven months, police said on Monday.

Investigators have arrested 18 of the suspects and are searching for others involved in the horrific crime in the heart of the city.

The perpetrators sedated the Class VII girl with injections, drug-laced soft drinks and a powder that they made her sniff before sexually assaulting her and videographed themselves in the act, an investigating officer said. They blackmailed the child into silence for a prolonged period with the threat of releasing the videos and by menacing her with violence, he said.

“This continued till the girl on Saturday told her older sister, a college student on a visit home from Delhi, about the trauma she was going through,” officer said. “The sister informed their parents, who filed a complaint with the Ayanavaram all women police.”

The girl told police that Ravi Kumar, 66, an elevator operator in the largely unoccupied 300-flat complex, first sexually assaulted her. Three days later he brought two men reeking of alcohol from outside the complex who videotaped themselves raping her. Other men soon joined in, sexually assaulting the child repeatedly.

“Ravi would lead away the child as soon as she alighted from her school van to the basement, public washrooms, the terrace and gym, where he and his accomplices raped her,” the officer said. “Many of the flats were vacant so the suspects had little hindrance while committing the crime.”

The suspects arrested in the crime were all employees FOCUS, a security firm, and UK Facility Services, Chennai.

“The girl’s father was away at work through most of the day,” the officer said. “Her mother, a homemaker, did not think anything was amiss when the girl came home late from school. She assumed that her daughter was playing with friends in the complex.”

The girl’s parents took her to Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital for treatment on Sunday. After examining and speaking to the girl, doctors at the hospital found that several men had raped her.

Police on Monday had her statement recorded in a mahila court after arresting 18 suspects and charging them under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.

“We have sent seized syringes and an empty soft drink bottle to the forensics laboratory to determine what drugs they used,” the officer said, adding that investigators had also sent seized condoms for tests.

They identified the suspects as security guards Murugesh, 54, Palani, 40, Abishek, 23, Sugumaran, 60, Prakash, 58, and Umapathy, 42; elevator operators Ravi Kumar, Paramasivam, 60, Dheenadayalan, 50, Srinivasan, 45, and Babu, 36; plumbers Jaiganesh, 23, Raja, 32, Surya, 23, Suresh, 32; an electrician Jayaraman, 26; a housekeeping employee, Rajasekar, 40; and a gardener, Gunasekar, 55.

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News Network
November 25,2024

Udupi: Six junior artists from the prequel of Kannada blockbuster film ‘Kantara’ were injured, when the bus they were travelling in overturned in the district, police said on Monday.

According to police, the accident occurred near Jadkal on Sunday night when the mini-bus carrying the crew of the film overturned.

“The incident happened while they were returning to Kollur after completing the shoot at Mudoor in Jadkal. The mini-bus was carrying 20 junior artistes when it met with the accident,” a police officer said.

The injured were rushed to hospitals in Jadkal and Kundapur for treatment, they said.

The Kollur police are investigating the matter.

"The news making rounds is completely false. The Kantara: Chapter 1 team began shooting at 06:00 AM today, and everything is proceeding as normal. A minor accident occurred 20 kilometres away from the shooting location, involving a local bus carrying some members of the Kantara team. However, no injuries were reported," a source close to the production said.

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News Network
November 14,2024

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The UN special rapporteur for Palestine has slammed Israel’s parliament for passing a law authorizing the detention of Palestinian children, who are “tormented often beyond the breaking point” in Israeli custody.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in a Thursday post on X, characterized the experiences of Palestinian minors in Israeli detention as extreme and often inhumane.

The UN expert highlighted the grave impact of this policy, noting that up to 700 Palestinian minors are taken into custody each year, a practice she described as part of an unlawful occupation that views these children as potential threats.

Albanese said Palestinian minors in Israeli custody are “tormented often beyond the breaking point” and that “generations of Palestinians will carry the scars and trauma from the Israeli mass incarceration system.”

She further criticized the international community for its inaction, suggesting that ongoing diplomatic efforts, which often rely on the idea of resuming negotiations for peace, have contributed to normalizing such human rights violations against Palestinian children and the broader population.

The comments by Albanese came in response to Israel’s parliament (Knesset) passing a law on November 7 that authorizes the detention of Palestinian children under the age of 14 for “terrorism or terrorist activities.”

Under the legislation, a temporary five-year measure, once the individuals turn 14, they will be transferred to adult prison to continue serving their sentences.

Additionally, the law allows for a three-year clause that enables courts to incarcerate minors in adult prisons for up to 10 days if they are considered dangerous. Courts have the authority to extend this duration if necessary, according to the Knesset.

The legislation underscores a shift in the treatment of minors and raises alarms among human rights advocates regarding the legal and ethical ramifications of detaining children and the conditions under which they may be held.

Thousands of Palestinians, including hundreds of children and women, are currently in Israeli jails—around one-third without charge or trial. Also, an unknown number are arbitrarily held following a wave of arrests in the wake of the regime's genocidal war on Gaza.

Since the onset of the Gaza war, the Israeli regime, under the supervision of extremist minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has turned prisons and detention centers into “death chambers,” the ministry of detainees and ex-detainees’ affairs in Gaza says.

Violence, extreme hunger, humiliation, and other forms of abuse of Palestinian prisoners have been normalized across Israel’s jail system, reports indicate.

Over 270 Palestinian minors are being detained by Israeli authorities, in violation of UN resolutions and international treaties that forbid the incarceration of children, as reported by Palestinian rights organizations.

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News Network
November 15,2024

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Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has killed or captured 69 terrorists linked to the Israeli spy agency Mossad during a major counterterrorism drill in the country's southeast, its spokesman says.  

General Ahmad Shafaei, the spokesman for the “Martyrs of Security” drill, said Friday that a total of 23 terrorists have been killed and another 46 arrested in various clean-up operations ever since the IRGC Ground Force launched it in the Sistan and Baluchestan province on November 1.

Seven terrorists have also turned themselves in during the period.

“The undeniable fact about terrorists is that they rely on arrogant powers, particularly the intelligence service of the wicked and vicious Zionist regime," Shafaei said.

“Unfortunately, weapons and munitions at terrorists’ disposal are among the most sophisticated ones in the world. This accounts for their heavy dependence.” 

The official stated that several members of the disbanded terror teams were non-Iranian nationals, who had been hired by foreign intelligence agencies to carry out acts of sabotage and terror inside Iran.

In a most recent operation, six terrorists were arrested and four others were eliminated, three of whom were non-Iranians, he added. 

On October 26, ten members of Iran's law enforcement forces were killed in a terrorist attack in the Gohar Kuh district of Taftan in the Sistan and Baluchestan province.

The so-called Jaish al-Adl terrorist group claimed responsibility for the assault, which was one of the deadliest in the province in recent months.

The group has carried out numerous terrorist attacks in Iran, primarily in Sistan and Baluchestan.

Its tactics include the abduction of border guards as well as targeting civilians and police stations within the province to incite chaos and disorder.

In January, Iran launched a military operation during which the headquarters of the Pakistan-based terrorist group was targeted in missile strikes, destroying its infrastructure.

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