Three-Year-Old Girl Dies After Being Raped Near Gummidipoondi, Chennai 

Gummidipoondi, Tiruvallur: A three-year-old girl, the daughter of migrant labourers from Bihar, died after being subjected to penetrative sexual assault near Chennai. The victim’s parents work at a steel company within the SIPCOT industrial estate in Gummidipoondi, where the accused, a 19-year-old migrant named Sanjay, also worked. Being a neighbour known to the family, the accused lured the toddler away from where she was playing on the street under the pretext of buying her chocolates, before assaulting her at a secluded spot. A passerby witnessed the horrific act and alerted local residents, who caught the accused as he attempted to flee and handed him over to the SIPCOT police. The critically injured child was rushed to a local government hospital and later shifted to Government Stanley Hospital in Chennai, where she tragically succumbed to her injuries the following morning. 

Legal Significance 

This case invokes the strictest mandates of India’s special criminal statutes concerning child protection, specifically triggering the statutory provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Because the brutal assault directly resulted in the child’s death, the offense scales automatically to “Aggravated Penetrative Sexual Assault” coupled with murder under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). 

📰 Source: The Hindu (English)