Minor Girl Molested On Train Allegedly By Lawyer In Tamil Nadu

Minor Girl Molested On Train in Tamil Nadu: A Chennai-based lawyer and former BJP Candidate have been arrested for allegedly molesting a nine-year-old girl on a train on Saturday. The child was travelling with her family from Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram to Chennai and was fast asleep on her middle berth on the Trivandrum Express when she was molested allegedly by the lawyer.

The lawyer, identified as KP Prem Ananth, had contested as the BJP’s candidate in the 2006 elections from RK Nagar in Chennai. RK Nagar was the high-profile seat represented by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. According to FIR filed in the case, the lawyer allegedly molested her somewhere between Salem and Erode stations on Saturday night. He was arrested by Erode Railway police on charges of molesting the minor girl onboard a Thiruvananthapuram-Chennai train. The victim’s mother lodged a complaint against the lawyer, stating that the incident occurred at around 1:15 am on Sunday when the child was travelling from Thiruvananthapuram to Chennai with her family. The nine-year-old’s family caught him after the girl cried and handed him over to the railway police.

“The child says the perpetrator had touched her breasts,” a police officer said. “The lawyer was also drunk. We are investigating,” the police officer told NDTV.

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The official also added that,

“We have spoken to the other passengers. When he was nabbed by the passengers, he threatened them by saying that he is a lawyer and well-connected in BJP. He was handed over to railway police at Erode,”

At the time of the incident, he was carrying an identity card of Madras High Court Advocates’ Association. The lawyer has been registered under the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, reports said. The alleged incident took place on the same day the centre cleared an ordinance, or emergency executive order to introduce the death penalty for those found guilty of child sexual abuse, a longer jail term for all rapists and set an ambitious four-month deadline to complete investigation and trial in all rape cases.

Tamil Nadu BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan told reporters that the accused did not hold any main positions in the party in TN and also she was not aware that KP Prem Ananth was “politically active” on a local level.

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She also added, “I am told that he was not active. Whatever it is, being a BJP member or a politician is not a label, it is meant for service. If this crime has happened, he should be getting the maximum punishment on par with the latest ordinance. If someone with a BJP link commits a crime, it doesn’t mean that party will tolerate that. We will not tolerate such crimes or criminals.”

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