Chennai: Teen with learning disabilities found abandoned, pregnant

CHENNAI: A 16-year-old girl with learning disabilities, found pregnant and abandoned at the MGR Chennai Central station, was rescued by Childline staff and handed over to the Chennai Child Welfare Committee on Saturday. The girl was frantically making calls to her grandmother in Vishakapatnam from a public phone.
Based on information she provided, a former railway employee who had sexually abused her was arrested on Sunday from his house in Thiruvottiyur under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The girl told CWC that she was locked in the house of Shankar Rao, 45, for five months and sexually abused. The man had met her at a bus stop in Vishakapatnam and convinced her to come with him to Chennai. She said Rao would bring friends home who also abused her.
While police said she escaped from the house, the CWC said the girl told them she was abandoned at the station after the man found out that she was four months’ pregnant.
According to the CWC’s version, the girl complained of severe abdominal pain when Shankar took her to a hospital and found that she was pregnant. He then took her to the railway station and left.
“The girl looked weak, famished and was in pain when she came here. We gave her food and medical aid and then she narrated the incident,” said Isabel Richardson, member of the CWC. During the inquiry, they found that she had learning disabilities. “But she gave us the address of the man and police found him there,” said Isabel.
The girl said she was a single child and had been living with her grandmother ever since her parents separated. Five months ago she was standing at the Vishakapatnam bus stop where Shankar noticed her. Police said the girl went missing when she was going to a temple with her family members in Visakhapatnam and a complaint had been lodged in the local police station.
Rao, a native of Visakhapatnam, worked as an electrician in Southern Railway and was sacked in 2017 allegedly on disciplinary grounds.
The girl’s grandmother has travelled to Chennai to be with her.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)