Coimbatore

The arrested persons were identified as Subash Chandru (19), a second year engineering student, and Thangaraju (47), a farmer of Thottiyam Theru in Valavanthi panchayat, Namakkal district. The girl’s mother Rajammal (37) was an AIADMK functionary and former president of Valavanthi Panchayat. Though the girl scored 463 out of 500 marks in her Class 10 examinations in April 2015, her family members forced her to get married to a lorry driver Shankar. 

However, her relatives stopped the marriage by calling the Childline. She was sent back after the family gave in writing that she would not be married till she turned 18 years of age.  She was studying in biology group at a private school at Theppakulam in Tiruchy in the hope of becoming a doctor. Childline officials were checking on her every month till December 2015. However, her parents forced her to marry Shankar in August 2016 and kept it under wraps. 

“She did not tell us about it as they allowed her to study after marriage,” Childline Coordinator R Dinesh told DTNext. She was forced to discontinue schooling in the second half of the last academic year and was shuttling between her house and that of her husband. Shankar was a drunkard.  “He forced her into a sexual relationship with him and also tortured her. In her written statement the girl alleged that Shankar’s parents scolded her,” the coordinator said. 

Unable to bear the physical and mental abuse, she called the Childline again on December 14. When the team rushed to her husband’s place at Kariipaapanur near Senthamangalam, the girl’s mother and brother whisked her away to their village.  The brave girl somehow manged to escape from her village and reached the Childline office in Namakkal the same day. She gave a statement on her ordeals. Her family members and local politicians thronged the Childline office to take her back. But the girl refused to go with them.  On December 15, the girl was produced before the District Child Welfare Committee. 

“It was the last time we saw the bold girl alive. She went back with her parents as her father threatened to end his life if she refused to do so,” Dinesh said. 

According to the police, the girl’s brother Subash reportedly slapped her. Inquiry revealed that he strangulated her to death. The family then cremated her body. Police collected her ashes and sent to Chennai for forensic analysis. A case has been booked.

DEADLY JOURNEY

Her death at the hands of her brother on Saturday brought her one-and-a-half-year old struggle for education to an end

2015 

• 28 May: Relatives call Childline and inform about marriage to be arranged for the 15-year-old girl within a week 
• 29 May: Revenue and district child protection unit officials with Childline representatives stop her marriage 
• 28 August: Family takes the girl home from the hostel in the night citing ill health of her father 
• 29 August: She was taken to a temple and forcibly married to Shankar and was sent back to school

2016 

• 14 December: She calls Childline for help and amidst drama managed to come to the Childline office 
• 15 December: Her father reportedly consumed poison and was hospitalised. Girl returns home 
• 17 December: She was allegedly murdered by her brother and cremated in secrecy the same night 
• 18 December: News about her murder reaches the police and Childline, but her family could not be spotted 
• 19 December: Police arrest her brothers and parents for murder and trying to destroy evidence

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