Chennai: The Madurai district rural police arrested eight people of the ten charged under the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in a case related to a minor girl eloping with a 26-year-old man.
The accused have been booked for unlawful assembly, procuring of minor girl and attempt to murder.
Madurai district superintendent of Police, V. Bhaskaran in a statement on Sunday said that the girl was admitted to Government Rajaji Medical College and Hospital, Madurai, after she along with S. Nagoor Haneefa (26) with whom she had eloped, consumed poison. Haneefa spit the poison immediately but the girl developed health issues and was taken to the hospital.
Nagoor Haneefa, according to Police, had taken the girl to his uncle’s residence at Erode after eloping with her on February 14. However, Haneefa’s mother scolded him for bringing the girl as it had created trouble in the village.
The SP in a statement said, “Haneefa and the girl tried to end their lives by consuming poison but Haneefa immediately spit the poison while the girl consumed it and she was admitted to a hospital.”
Police said that Haneefa dropped the girl at his house and asked his mother Mathina Begum to hand her over to her parents and she was handed over to her parents on March 3. When the parents came to know that she had consumed poison, they took her to a private hospital and got her admitted to the Government hospital in Melur, Madurai. She was later admitted to Government Rajaji Medical College hospital in Madurai as her condition turned worse.
However, the Police Superintendent said that she was not subjected to sexual abuse.
Police said that the girl’s parents did not agree to register a missing case when the police asked them to, but later they agreed and an FIR was registered.
The SP said that Haneefa had taken the girl to the hospital and was injected. Police arrested Haneefa, his friends P. Prakash, M. Perumal, Krishnan, Raja Mohammed, Shahul Hameed, Sultan Aladin, his wife Begum, and his aunt Ramzan Begum.
Police also warned the general public not to reveal the identity of the minor girl and against circulating her photograph on the social media.
