A 16 year old girl was raped by a pastor with whom her family was residing in Tamil Nadu. The matter came to light after Child Welfare Committee members investigated her in another case. She had told about it to her father who beat her and buried the incident.
Perambalur district’s Child Line unit received information that a 16-year-old girl was going to be married off to a 31-year-old man. The girl’s father himself called the helpline number on April 12. The next day Child Welfare Committee members ‘rescued’ the girl and lodged her in a children’s home. Later she was investigated when she revealed that she was raped by the pastor with whom her family stayed.
The girl was living at pastor Velayudham Stephen’s (53) house along with her parents. While the parents went out for agriculture work the pastor abused the victim. He forced himself on her and raped her 8 months ago. The girl told her father. Not believing her words he beat her with a log instead of filing a complaint and supporting his daughter.
Then she was sent to her grandparents’ house and attended school from there. In the meanwhile, the girl’s cousin developed feelings for her. But her father didn’t approve of the relationship as there was some property issue between their families. On April 3, when the girl went to her cousin’s house relatives made her stay there saying that they will marry them once she turns 18.
She was raped by her cousin on April 8 and the relatives tried to arrange their wedding immediately. Based on this, a Child Protection Unit(CPU) member filed a complaint with the Perambalur All Women Police Station. Pastor Stephen, the cousin and the victim’s father have been booked and the former two have been arrested.
