14-Year-Old Girl Lured, Raped By 2 Men In Tamil Nadu

Two men have been arrested in connection with the alleged gang-rape of a 14-year-old girl in Tamil Nadu's Chengalpattu district, police said. Investigators said the accused were known to the survivor.

According to a senior police officer who spoke to NDTV, the incident took place on Tuesday night when the girl had gone out to relieve herself. The perpetrators, police say, asked her to come to an under-construction building where they sexually assaulted her.

"The men are well known to the survivor. We have arrested both of them and remanded them to judicial custody," the officer said. Police added that the investigation is underway.

The case has sparked fresh political exchanges over crimes against women and children in Tamil Nadu.

Responding to criticism from opposition leaders in the State Assembly, Chief Minister Joseph Vijay on Tuesday linked the rise in crimes against women to developments during the DMK's tenure in 2024. He cited the formation of Singappen, an exclusive women's police force by his government, as a measure aimed at preventing such offences. The Chief Minister also blamed rampant drug abuse and the absence of a Director General of Police (Law and Order) for nearly ten months for the worsening situation.

Reacting to the Chengalpattu case and a separate murder case in Coimbatore, DMK MP Kanimozhi expressed shock and anguish in a social media post.

"The reports of a 14-year-old girl being abducted and sexually assaulted by anti-social elements near Kalpakkam, and the recovery of the body of a young woman who was brutally murdered in Coimbatore's Suganapuram, are shocking and deeply distressing," she wrote.

Kanimozhi alleged that violence against women and children had increased in the state and he criticised the government for blaming the DMK instead of accepting responsibility and taking effective steps to curb such crimes.

The Chengalpattu case comes amid heightened concern over recent crimes against children in Tamil Nadu. In a recent incident, a 10-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered in Coimbatore. In another case, a three-year-old girl died in hospital after she was allegedly assaulted in Tiruvallur district.