TIRUCHY: Tiruchy police on Saturday (September 5) arrested four minors on charges of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old mentally disturbed girl on the school premises.

It is said that a couple of days back, a gang of four boys from the Gandhi Market police jurisdiction took a 16-year-old girl from the locality to a nearby school and sexually assaulted her.

The girl, who managed to escape from them, passed on the information to the village elders, who lodged a complaint against the boys with the Fort All Women Police Station.

The residents also took the boys to the station while complaining.

The police, who conducted an inquiry, confirmed the offence and registered a case against the four under various sections, including the Pocso Act and arrested them.

Subsequently, they were lodged in the Government Observation Home in Thanjavur.

The residents said that ganja peddling has been widely witnessed in the locality and the peddlers target the minors and force them to consume it to make them addicted to it.

Those four boys who were studying classes 9 and 10 were said to be regular customers, and the offence had taken place under the influence of drugs.