Minor girls fall prey to HIV+ rapist

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Minor girls fall prey to HIV+ rapist

20 Apr 2008, 0342 hrs IST , Ajitha Karthikeyan , TNN

CHENNAI: Parents of two minor girls from Kottangulam village near

Srivilliputhur in Virudhunagar district are in shock. The district

police on Saturday arrested a 38-year-old HIV positive man, a

relative of one of the girls, based on a complaint that he had raped

the two girls and passed on the deadly virus to them.

Police arrested Ayyappan, a mason, a day after the parents of the

girls filed a complaint, and booked him under IPC 376 (rape) and 506

(1) (intimidation), district superintendent of police T Senthil Kumar told The

Times of India over phone from Virudhunagar.

Even two months ago, the district staff of the Tamil Nadu State AIDS

Control Society (TANSACS) came to know that the two girls had been

infected with HIV and suspected that Ayyappan could be the

culprit. " But we could not do anything without the parents

cooperating with us, " said a TANSACS staff, who did not want to be

named.

Police said that Ayyappan, whose wife died a year ago after setting

herself on fire, was a neighbour and relative of the unsuspecting

girls, aged 12 and 15. Villagers say that the woman had killed

herself after she came to know that her husband was HIV positive.

The victims, both school dropouts, were friends of Ayyappan's

daughter and they used to frequent one another's house. The accused

must have raped the girls over a period of time until a year ago,

police said. When the girls began to fall sick frequently, doctors at

the government hospital took tests for HIV and both confirmed

positive for HIV. Though the test was taken six months ago, the

shattered parents kept it under wraps fearing social stigma and also

harassment from Ayyappan, who was one of the girls' uncle.

They chose to lodge a complaint only on Friday night after much

persuasion from a TANSACS official who was sent from Chennai to make

enquiries about the allegation.

Ayyappan had apparently claimed that the girls were willing partners

in the sexual act. " We have to verify this with the girls. Anyway it

still amounts to rape as the victims are minors, " said Senthil Kumar.

Ayyappan also claimed to have known about his HIV status only two

days ago when he took a test in the hospital.

Taking a serious note of the incident, Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control

Society (TANSACS) project director Supriya Sahu sent a team of

officials to Srivilliputur for investigation and asked the district

collector and the SP to take action.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/HIV_man_rapes_minors_in_TN/articleshow\

/2964985.cms