Parents, boyfriend remanded in custody for Kerala flesh trade

As many as 199 minor girls were sexually assaulted in Kerala in the last 11 months, Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan told the Assembly on Monday, even as eight people, including the parents and boyfriend of a minor girl pushed into flesh trade at Paravoor in Kochi, were remanded in judicial custody.

The remanded are the girl’s mother Deepa (40), her father Balasubramanniyam (45), Deepa’s lover Alex (50), the girl’s boyfriend Renjith (22), Sudeesh (27), Rajesh (29), Shibu (31) and Biju (31).

The girl told police that her boyfriend and others molested her. Her parents, Renjith and Alex forced and threatened her to “cooperate with men”, whom they introduced to her.
The 16-year-old girl said she was first assaulted by Sudeesh, who is the first accused in the case, at her home when she was in Class nine. Her lover Renjith also molested her several times.

Police said that Renjith had assaulted her at the Surgical ward of the Paravoor government hospital while he was admitted there with injuries in a road accident. The girl was his attendant all four days that he was in the hospital.

She was also abused by three junior film artistes, police said but did not disclose their names as “investigation is on’’.

In all, seven cases have been registered under various sections of CrPc for sexually assaulting minor girl, rape and sexual exploitation. 

Meanwhile, on a public complaint, a youth and his friend were arrested by Police at Kasargod on Monday for assaulting the former’s minor sisters. They also allegedly offered the girls studying in Class nine and 10 respectively, to several men for sexual favours.

The girls told police that their brother Abdul Azeez and his friend Ashraff had abused them several times and were   taken to various Karnataka towns and offered to men. Medical examination confirmed the assault.

The Home Minister admitted that the number of sexual assaults on minor girls this year surpassed last year’s.