The parents came to know of the rape after the elder daughter fainted at school.
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An eight-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by 16 men over a period of four years died on Thursday. According to a report in The New Indian Express, the case came to light in July 2019 when the girl's mother filed a police complaint and said her two daughters had been raped by their relatives several times.
On Thursday evening, the younger daughter complained about stomach ache and went to the washroom, once around 9.40 pm and then at 10.10 pm. As she had been in the washroom for quite some time, her mother broke open the door and saw her lying unconscious. She was rushed to a private hospital and was declared dead on arrival.
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The girl's mother had moved to Chennai in 2018 after she got a divorce and remarried another man. When the sexual assaults took place, the daughters were in the care of their maternal grandmother.
The parents came to know of the rape after the elder daughter fainted at school. Lakshmi lodged a complaint at a local police station in Villupuram and 16 people were booked under POCSO Act and remanded in judicial custody. However, all of them were released on bail in November and December.
Villupuram Superintendent of Police S Jeyakumar was quoted in the report as saying, "The death of the child does not seem to be connected to them. However, if the autopsy report shows that sexual assault was the cause of death, we will take action accordingly."
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