Thiruvananthapuram: Just a week after Keralites celebrated Onam, remembering the rule of the mythical king Mahabali and his kingdom, in which no crime was committed, the state was stunned by reports of the rapes of a 90-year-old woman in Kollam and the gang rape of a 15-year-old girl in Thodupuzha, on Wednesday.
The nonagenarian was raped last week although the incident was only revealed on Wednesday. The victim gave a statement to the police that the incident happened at night after the assailant broke into her house. She had been living alone.
“I pleaded with him, saying, ‘Son, leave me alone’,” she told a local television channel, recounting the incident that happened at Kadakkal, near Kollam. She said she was raped at knife point.
Local media reported that she had narrated the incident to some of her relatives the same day but they ignored it.
Based on her statement, police have taken into custody a neighbour identified as Vijayakumar, alias Babu. The elderly victim has been moved to a local hospital.
The state human rights commission has taken a suo moto case regarding the incident and has directed the Kollam superintendent of police to investigate the matter and submit a report within a week.
In the second incident, the 15-year-old girl from Thiruvananthapuram is believed to have left her home with a man with whom she was close. The man took her to Thodupuzha, where the girl is believed to have been raped by him and three others.
Two of the accused have been taken into custody and police are searching for the two other accused.
