Minor Rape Victim Ends Life After Becoming Pregnant With Neighbor's Child

A 16-year-old girl, who was raped and impregnated by her neighbor, died while undergoing treatment at a hospital following an alleged suicide attempt.

The shocking incident happened in the Tiruvannamalai district of India’s Tamil Nadu state, police said.
Besides the victim's neighbor, two other people were arrested in connection with the case, the authorities added.

The victim’s school principal and the hostel warden were also arrested by the police for failing to report the crime, the Times Now News reported.

According to the police, the victim said in her statement that she was repeatedly raped by her neighbor last year while she was at her home due to COVID-induced lockdown.

The minor fainted when she returned to the school in Dec 2021, a senior police officer in Tiruvannamalai said.

The school authorities took the teen to a nearby hospital where the doctors told the warden that the girl was pregnant.

The warden alerted the principal, who then asked the girl’s parents to take her home but did not disclose the news of her pregnancy, fearing accusations and the school’s goodwill, the police officer said.

On Jan 7, the teen allegedly attempted suicide at her home. She was rushed to a government hospital in Tiruvannamalai, where physicians notified the girl’s parents about her pregnancy, said police.

The police were alerted and the officers were able to record the teen’s statement after she regained consciousness.

The teen told the police that she took the extreme step due to the pregnancy exacerbated by rape.

According to the officer, the teen victim died while undergoing treatment at the hospital.

Based on the victim’s statement, the police arrested her neighbor, the school principal, and the hostel warden.

They were charged under sections 6 (punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the POCSO Act, 2012, section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and sections under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989.

The accused were produced before a court and have been remanded to judicial custody.