At a hospital in an Andhra Pradesh district, a 15-year-old girl, almost eight months pregnant, spends her days in a 150-bed ward, surrounded by expectant mothers and wailing infants. Authorities have deemed it dangerous to terminate her pregnancy at this stage, and say sending her home is not an option either – the teenager is the victim of sexual abuse over two years by 14 men, who are from an influential community in the village where the crimes took place.
According to officials, the investigation, which began in the first week of June after the 15-year-old’s mother approached the police, has revealed the failure of systems that were designed to protect someone like her: The daughter of a single mother, struck by poverty, and belonging to SC (Madiga) community in a village dominated by forward castes.
“It was her young age, vulnerability and caste because of which the men could prey on and exploit her for two years, leaving her pregnant at 15. The systems that are in place to check on her welfare failed. Her class teacher did not even report that she had dropped out of school,’’ Superintendent of Police V Ratna told The Indian Express.
“It has been decided to keep the girl in the hospital until delivery. If she is released from the hospital and sent back to her village, nobody knows what will happen. She is being provided counselling and other care. After delivery, the mother and child will be moved to a government home for women,” the SP, who is leading the investigation, said.
The girl’s ordeal began when she was 13 and in the 8th grade. As per the police report, after the girl’s father died about three years ago, her mother moved to a nearby village close to the Karnataka border.
According to the police, one of the accused found the girl and her classmate, also from the SC community, sitting alone after school and snapped photos on his mobile phone. “Using violence, intimidation and threats of leaking the photos on social media, two accused first forced the girl to submit to their demands and raped her. They also filmed the act. These videos and photos were used to exploit the girl by the friends and acquaintances of the primary accused,” the SP said.
After finding out that the girl was pregnant, her mother approached the police in the first week of June. On June 9, the police arrested six persons, and subsequently 11 more.
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.