A 14-year-old who was undergoing treatment at the state-run Niloufer Children’s Hospital in Hyderabad was subjected to repeated sexual assault and she has died during treatment.
In that tragic incident, the girl died on Wednesday morning where she was undergoing treatment for a week.
According to reports, the girl who had lost both her parents were living in the Maruti Orphanage since 2015.
The girl’s ordeal began last year when one day, Chielukuri Vijaya, the woman who ran the orphanage asked her to go to the office of Naredla Venugopal Reddy, one of their donors. There, Reddy allegedly offered a juice contains with dope to that girl and started to rape her many times.
Though the girl informed the orphanage warden about the incident she was threatened asked to remain silent. According to the girl, she and several girls in the orphanage were sexually assaulted by Reddy multiple times.
Reddy had allegedly paid money to Vijaya and her brother who also was also involved in the operations of the orphanage.
The sexual assault came to light after she was going to her a relative’s home, due to the lockdown in India. The girl was unusually quiet and she was beaten up by her uncle for creating trouble at home. Her relatives said that they would hit her when she created a nuisance, but it was never life-threatening.
Following this, she moved to a cousin’s home where they noticed that the girl had become considerably weak and was having difficulty walking. The girl was shifted to a shelter home on August 7 2020 and was sent for a medical check-up the next day. But she collapsed and was shifted to a hospital, where she died on Wednesday.
Upon questioning, the girl revealed her ordeal, and a police complaint was launched on July 31.
Based on her complaint, Reddy, hostel warden Vijaya and caretaker Jayadeep were arrested on August 7.
The police registered a case under Indian Penal Code Sections 376(3) (rape of woman under 16 years of age), 342 (wrongful confinement), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and several sections of the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and transferred it to Ameenpur police station for reasons of jurisdiction.
According to the police they are yet to ascertain the cause of her death.
